The Whitefang Pack
by Flamewind
Summary: The Whitefang Pack is a clan that has all Eevee and their evolutions for members. An Umbreon must proove to this pack that, even though he was once a trainer's Pokemon, he's no longer loyal to humans. /Finished!/
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon or anything about it, that's Nintendo's right. But I do own the original characters that appear in this fanfiction. Please refrain from plagiarism.

This is the story of an Eevee evolutions pack, and about an Umbreon that wishes to be accepted by the pack. You will probably see that this fanfiction resembles _Warriors _by Erin Hunter a bit.

**Prologue**

It was the dead of night. Not a Pokemon in the forest was stirring, except for one. A dark figure in the already black night limping ahead without any sense of where he is going, using only the acute eyesight of his kind to see ahead. The figure's dark coat lit up for a few seconds from the golden rings around his body, showing that an Umbreon had been attacked.

He had been looking for a group of his own kind to join with, but a friendly group had yet to show themselves. A Houndour pack roamed this forest, but they had been less then kind to him. This left a mark on the Umbreon, from the cuts and scrapes his body had adopted, to the huge gash in his back right leg that made it exceedingly painful to walk. But he was determined, the scent of his kind tickling his sensitive nostrils.

"_Halt!" _Cried a male voice loudly. Three sets of bright black eyes had appeared ahead of the Umbreon, all focused on him.

He would look queer to them, being a Pokemon that didn't naturally come from the forest that surrounded them. He would still have the scent of his trainer, Laura. She had been a wonderful friend to him, dear and kind, giving him a reason to evolve for her, to protect her. It had been night, much like this one, in which his body had changed from a sweet, tiny Eevee, into this dark creature that could lurk in the shadows.

Laura had abandoned him just a week ago, said he was too weak for her, said he wasn't trying hard enough. This was what had happened to him, reduced to a kit-like state, unable to find his own food. How could he know that food didn't appear right in front of him, as it had for over seven moons?

"_State your business." _Another voice commanded, cool, female, and light this time.

"_Please." _Umbreon stated weakly, _"I'm wounded and tired, I need a place to rest and regain myself. Can any of you offer a poor starving Pokemon a place to rest?"_

There was a pause in which one of the pairs of eyes disappeared into the cover of darkness, away from the Umbreon's line of vision.

After a while, there was a cry from far away, and one of the figures stepped forward. A Vaporeon, her body dripping wetly, walked closer to the Umbreon and looked him over carefully.

"_You appear to be no threat." _She finally grunted and grudgingly holds out her wet, front left paw to Umbreon. He stared at it for a good moment or two, before he extended a paw of his own and held it against hers for a second. _"Follow me." _She continued, and whipped around quickly, nearly slapping Umbreon in the face with her tail fin before she set off deeper into the forest.

He did not want to be left behind, so he followed her as fast as his wounded leg would allow, racing past tall trees, and a stretch of lake, in which the Vaporeon swam through. The arrived at a clearing, surrounded by protective trees and full of sleeping forms.

"_Welcome," _Stated the Vaporeon, _"To Whitefang Pack grounds."_


	2. The Whitefang Pack

Disclaimer: And also note that Kitten doesn't own Warriors, Harry Potter, Eragon… actually, she doesn't own much of anything that appears in her fanfictions.

**Chapter 1**

Umbreon spent the rest of the night resting in the middle of the clearing, and woke only when he felt hot breath in his face. The rays of light that came from the newly risen sun illuminated many furry forms, most already engaged in conversation. It didn't take an Alakazam to know that they were talking about him.

"…_Strange creature, huh?"_

"_Wonder why he got past the guards…"_

"_Quite unnatural."_

But Umbreon didn't mind all the talking until a particularly aged Jolteon addressed him. _"Creature, why have you come here?" _The Jolteon flashed many chipped and broken teeth and spoke in an old, withered tone of voice.

Umbreon looked up at the old Jolteon, for he was much smaller then him. He spoke like he was a proud forest creature, not some lost and confused kit. _"I have been released and need a place to stay."_

"_Let him alone, Scarfang, he's too weak to cause us any trouble." _The Vaporeon from last night had approached the Jolteon, who Umbreon guessed was Scarfang.

"_Why? He will recover eventually, and then he'll go back to his trainer. Don't forget what happened the last time we accepted an outsider into our clan." _A female Flareon pitched in, her fluffy mane bristling angrily.

"_Obviously, Pyrone, you're still sore about losing your kit." _Vaporeon stated with her head bowed to the Flareon, _"He was a good kit, yes, but you still have another one."_

"_Yes." _She responded stiffly, _"And the darling is doing so well in her tyro training!"_

"_Excuse me." _Umbreon finally said, which caused the three arguing Eevee evolutions to turn their heads to him, _"But what's a tyro?"_

"'_What's a tyro' he says!" _The Flareon blurted, her form shaking with mewing laughter, _"Oh that's rich! Oh, oh, he doesn't know what a tyro is!"_

As she fell over in laughter, Scarfang sighed, _"I remember a certain kit that didn't know what a tyro was until she was halfway through her training." _He mewed, causing the Flareon to stop her laughing fit and she glared at him. The others gathered around had begun to mew in laughter as well.

"_Quite the naive one you were Pyrone." _The Vaporeon added in, to more mews. Umbreon sat where he was, shaking his head at the lot of them. They seemed crazy to him.

"_Mommy!" _Cried a young voice from the middle of the crowd of Eevee and its evolutions. A small Eevee, still with the silky kit fur, pushed her way through the crowd and up to Pyrone. _"Mommy, mommy, guess what?"_

"_What is it, sweetie?" _She asked in an amused tone.

The Eevee mewed happily, _"I caught a Spearow!" _She puffed herself up proudly as compliments were showered over her by most; her mother's talking being loudest.

"_What about you?" _Scarfang asked Umbreon, which startled him. He looked from the little Eevee kit to him and blinked. _"Can you hunt?"_

Hunt? What was this phenomenon? _"Uh, what's hunting?" _Umbreon asked thickly, having not hunted a single thing in his entire life.

"_Oooohhh, it's where you go out and catch food to eat!" _The young Eevee chirped.

"_Uh, no… unless those little crunchy pellets have to be caught first…" _Umbreon responded, to a new crash of laughter.

"_Do you fight then?" _Asked Scarfang over the din of mewing laughter.

"_Yup." _

Scarfang scowled at Umbreon's wounded leg, _"Not very well."_ He finally said. _"And your age?"_

"_Seven moons."_

Scarfang seemed to relax a bit, _"Still a kit then. We might be able to use you. But here's our problem: what in the forest are you?"_

"_An Umbreon." _He responded, and when Scarfang blinked at him, he continued. _"An Eevee evolution, just like you."_

"_I've never seen a sacred stone do this to an Eevee." _Was Scarfang's reply as he stalked around Umbreon, as if checking for weaknesses, _"You're quite different…"_

"_I didn't evolve by stone evolution-" _Umbreon started, but was cut short by a massive intake of breath. A silence fell heavily over the crowd; even the excited young Eevee fell silent to hear him out.

"_I used to love my trainer. When an Eevee loves his trainer too much, he evolves for her. The moon was up when I evolved, so I'm an Eevee of darkness. There's another kind of Eevee evolution that occurs when the sun is up, but that doesn't matter." _He said to the clan, watching as they all flashed him horrified looks.

"_Surely he is still loyal to his trainer then, if he evolved for her?" _Pyrone finally growled, breaking the silence. _"Surely he hasn't left her."_

"_Your loyalty remains unseen, Umbreon-creature." _Scarfang mewed, _"But I must admit that it's very unlikely that you would be loyal to this clan when you love a trainer."_

"_But I don't love her anymore! She let me go, she kicked me out! I'll be loyal, I swear!" _Umbreon blurted, watching Scarfang's old, emotionless face for some sign of sympathy. He found none there, or in the faces of any others.

"_Well I think," _Vaporeon stated, _"That even an Umbreon can be loyal to Whitefang Pack. Given the chance, I was loyal as well. Remember Pyrone, Scarfang, everyone? I was released as well, and my heart remains in this clan."_

"_But you were just a kit!" _Pyrone snapped back at her, _"A small kit, barely three moons! You've even said it yourself; you don't even remember your old trainer anyway!"_

"_Even then Pyrone, you never really trusted me until I finished my training." _

"_You both have your points." _Scarfang said quickly as Pyrone fluffed up in anger, _"But we must take our chances at least. We'll let him heal here and then allow him to start tyro training for a while. If he shows any signs of not being loyal, he will be banished from this clan." _His speech was firm, even Pyrone nodded grudgingly.

"_But who will train him?" _Called another Flareon from the crowd.

"_Well," _Scarfang began, casting a glance at the Vaporeon, _"I understand that you already have a tyro, Takula, but would you consider another?"_

"_No way! Noooo way are you putting my daughter in the line of fire!" _Pyrone screeched, curling her fluffy tail around the young Eevee. Umbreon guessed that Eevee was already Takula's tyro.

Ignoring Pyrone, the Vaporeon called Takula nodded. _"I hope you don't think," _She started, flashing a glare at Pyrone, _"That I won't keep an eye on him. Because, I assure you, he'll be watched very carefully."_

Pyrone growled, _"Come on, sweet pea, let's go." _She turned and led her daughter away through the crowd. Umbreon watched her go, happy that there was peace now that she had left.

"_Right, now rest up Umbreon-creature, the sooner you get better, the sooner you'll be accepted." _Scarfang said with a wink, _"There's nothing more to see here! Move it along, move it along!" _He snapped at the crowd, which dispersed slowly, most heading off into the forest, probably to do more of that hunting thing.

"_Sir?" _Umbreon mewed as the last of them left.

"_Yes, Umbreon-crea… err, Umbreon?"_

"_How large is the Whitefang Pack exactly?" _He asked.

Scarfang eyed him strangely for a moment before he said, _"Sixty-four on the dot, not counting you. I do hope that bit of information doesn't find its way back to your trainer."_

"_But I don't have a-" _Umbreon began, but Scarfang bounded away before he could get out the last word, _"-trainer."_


	3. First Hunt

Well, Kindly Kold, there are only six Warriors books… and I can't quite remember the exact book in which all that happened.

SaiTheInsaneTactican, yup, that's part of where the idea came from! I'm honored that I've this story has made it to your favorite author list!

Moon, don't smack me, don't smack me! Here's the update!

**Chapter 2**

"_Now, now, everyone's not so good on their first hunt!" _Takula exclaimed brightly behind Umbreon as his clumsy paws alerted the Pidgey he was attempting to hunt; it flew away instantly up to a high branch of the nearest tree and began to preen itself. Umbreon scowled at the bird; at least it didn't have a care in the forest. _He _had to put up with another futile attempt to be a normal member of the Whitefang Pack.

Pyrone's daughter and Takula's other tyro was taking a refreshing swim in the pack's lake, thoughtfully ignoring Umbreon completely. A few days ago, the young Eevee had introduced herself to him as Fern. It was the day after they met, strange forest creature to bumbling human-bred creature.

Fern seemed to be a mirror image of her mother in attitude: don't care about those who don't matter. The only thing that got Fern to listen to Takula was the fact that the Vaporeon chose the time her tyros would become full-fledged fighters for the pack. Umbreon only got attention from the young Eevee because he was different, because he was just not _normal_.

"_Why am I even trying!" _Umbreon exclaimed to himself. He didn't notice the queer look Takula gave him, _"I've failed again, this has to be the fourth time!"_

"_Good pack members aren't quitters." _Takula responded quietly, her words cutting him like daggers. _"Good pack members would try and try again, no matter what. Want to prove you're a good pack member? Then try, try, try, until you succeed!"_

Takula padded over to him, her look calm and pitiful. Umbreon couldn't stand it, he looked away, every pack member that didn't spit at the sight of him pitied him! _"I understand how you feel, Umbreon, but pouting is not the answer. If I must, let me show you how it's done."_

Another small bird had decided to land a bit farther away, a Spearow. Throwing herself into a crouch, her back end sticking up slightly, Takula moved in slowly with soft, soundless steps. She crawled closer and closer to her intended prey, until she was feet away. Suddenly, without any warning, Takula sprang on the small bird.

Umbreon forced his mouth closed as his mentor finished it quickly, returning to him with a limp, feathery bundle in her mouth. Takula dropped it at his feet and pushed it closer to him with a triumphant glisten in her eyes. _"Go ahead, I don't mind."_

He stared at the bird. _Was this supposed to be food? _It sure didn't look like it, but Umbreon hadn't eaten anything that had looked like food from the time he'd first showed up at the Whitefang Pack, five days, to now. They'd fed him forest berries, juicy yes, but strange berries. 'That's what makes you get better.' Scarfang had said to him, and it had been true.

Scarfang. The first time Umbreon met him, he had the air of a leader, a true leader. But he wasn't, as Umbreon had found out, just the pack elder. He had the status to issue orders and have them followed, but was no leader.

The true leader was a Flareon, certainly old enough for the job, being Pyrone's own mother. She was Blazewind, one of the most skilled fighters the pack had ever known. Unlike her daughter, unlike her granddaughter, Blazewind had shown Umbreon a warm and friendly welcome. She made him feel like he finally belonged, though he didn't, yet.

Umbreon couldn't lie about one thing, the pile of freshly caught food that appeared in the middle of Whitefang Pack grounds every day had attracted his attention, like a bee to a flower.

Now was his first chance to taste true forest food, which he finally took with a small nibble of a bite to the bird's belly. It tasted amazing, true words could not describe it. Umbreon picked up the pace of his eating, picking through the whole thing until it satisfied his hunger.

"_Well?" _Takula prompted, looking Umbreon dead in the eyes. He squirmed for a second before telling her that the bird was excellent, which seemed to be what she was waiting to hear, by the way she nodded thoughtfully. _"Maybe Fern would like to join us, Fern!" _She bellowed at the Eevee, who looked annoyed at the interruption in her perfectly good swim.

"_Yes… ma'am?" _Fern grumbled slowly as she paced over to Takula, dripping wet and looking thoroughly grumpy.

"_Come now, you two should be talking to each other! You can have the rest of the day off, for a bit of bonding time." _Takula exclaimed in a bright tone as she turned to head back to pack grounds, _"I'll leave you alone now."_

As she darted away, Fern shot Umbreon a look that seemed to say: 'I'd never want to have bonding time with a thing like this.'

Umbreon tried to be friendly; he plastered a small cat smile on his face and spoke in a friendly tone. _"Hi Fern."_

"_Hi." _She responded dully, her eyes focusing on everywhere by Umbreon.

"_Nice weather, isn't it?" _He continued, trying desperately to strike up a conversation.

"_I guess so." _Fern said in the same dull, uninterested tone. Her eyes were focused on the tree branches now; a Pidgey was roosting on a low-lying branch. She pawed over to it silently and jumped; catching hold of the branch by her two front paws and scaring the Pidgey away quickly.

Umbreon watched, slightly amused, as Fern dangled there, until she started to mew loudly. _"Help! Help mommy! HELP ME!" _

Her paws were slipping; slowly she lost her grip on the branch and fell… onto Umbreon's back. Fern's shivering form laid on his back for a long couple of moments before she seemed to come to her senses and rolled off. He turned to face her, rub it in her face that _he had saved her_ but found that it was impossible when he looked at her shaking like that.

Fern's wide eyes were brimming with tears, her fur half-dry and sticking out at odd angles. A sudden movement caught Umbreon's attention though, the rustling of branches in the small bushes.

He stalked around Fern to see what was causing the movement, gently padding closer and catching a feathered scent in the air. It was the same Pidgey Fern had just tried to get, and it was a foot from his face.

It happened fast; almost as fast as when Umbreon had watched it happen. He jumped at the bird and landed on its back. When the first shock of impact wore off, it started to struggle, until he gave it a swift bite to its neck.

Surprised by his own actions, and feeling very proud, Umbreon carried the result of his first successful hunt and laid it at Fern's paws.

She looked down at it, her mouth hanging open with slight shock, then up at him. _"You caught that?" _Fern said in a disbelieving tone, all traces of tears gone.

"_Yup. And if you don't want it, I'd gladly offer it to someone else." _Umbreon responded, his eyes glinting slightly. But Fern didn't get to eat the Pidgey, because at that moment a chorus of outraged, horrified cries echoed from pack grounds.

Fern got to her feet and raced back, heading as fast as she possibly could have gone. Umbreon followed her quietly as the cries were repeated, intensified. Most of the sixty-four that made up Whitefang Pack were gathered around the clearing, all focusing their attention on one point, Scarfang.

As the pack repeated their loud, horrified cries, Umbreon caught sight of the pack elder. He was lying on the ground, the last traces of life in his body completely gone, his blood staining the ground around him. Scarfang was dead.


	4. A Friend

Anonymous person who has chosen to be called 'Just a fanfic reader' you have asked many good questions about this story, most of which will be answered in the chapters to come. As for your prediction, it's not that correct, as you can see from this chapter. As for Umbreon's catch, he was lucky, that's all. I don't know where it'll end yet, but it probably won't be for a while. I haven't read any wolf books actually, and am surprised that the book you mentioned has almost the same name as my Eevee evolution story. Thank you for your incredibly long review; it was literally the best one I've gotten yet.

Absolkagome, yes! I can't wait for it, it's supposed to be called Midnight. Umbreon might get a warrior name… ;)

Kindly Kold, Vulpix4life, Moon, and The Cougar, thanks for your input! And sorry for the long author's note…

**Chapter 3**

After a long pause that seemed to take a century to pass, Blazewind the pack leader broke away from the crowd to peer down at Scarfang. _"What happened?" _She demanded.

"_I… I… I saw them." _Someone finally stammered out, sounding so frightened that Umbreon barely recognized her as Takula. Her muzzle was still bloody from the Spearow she'd caught.

Blazewind turned to face Takula. When she spoke, it was in her usual kind and tired tone. _"Speak Takula."_

"_It was… it was… the Houndour. A lone Houndour, he attacked and killed Scarfang! Oh Scarfang, Scarfang, your death shall be avenged!" _The Vaporeon responded, a hint of insanity in her voice.

"_Takula was always close to Scarfang." _Fern told Umbreon quickly before darting away from him to join Pyrone. There she resumed her old pastime of making strange faces at him. It was to be expected, Umbreon told himself.

"…_As you all know," _Blazewind had been speaking while he had been looking at Fern, _"Scarfang was not only our elder, but had been trusted to be our deputy. We will never forget Scarfang for as long as we live, he'd been wonderful to all of us. And I'm sorry Takula."_

An uproar of mews greeted her words, comforting Takula, agreeing that Scarfang would be in their hearts, and, most of all, knowing that he'd been a wonderful elder to them. Umbreon added his voice in as well, before Blazewind had silenced them all with a wave of her tail.

"_But now we are without a deputy, and an elder. I'm next in like for the lateral position, so it shall remain empty until I retire. But for a deputy…" _She looked meaningfully around at the crowd arranged around her and continued, _"Will Vernol step forward?" _

A Jolteon, thick muscled and small, scampered forward and stopped two feet from Blazewind expectantly. _"Today we have experienced the death of one of our own, Scarfang, killed by a lone Houndour. His death shall be avenged by our new deputy!" _She paused and placed her left paw on Vernol's forehead.

"_Vernol is no more, today he shall forever be called Stormclaw!" _A chorus of mews exploded from the crowd; Stormclaw must have been the popular choice for deputy. It was then that Umbreon noticed that Takula hadn't joined in; she was edging away into the forest.

"_As is our custom, Stormclaw, you must leave for the forest now. Stay there until you find the Houndour that committed this terrible crime and bring him back, dead or alive."_

"_Yes ma'am." _Stormclaw responds before turning away and dashed through the crowd, which parted for him, and disappeared into the forest. The pack buried Scarfang after that, in a sleepy dell by the lake. Takula showed back up and wept along with the rest for their old elder. When at last everyone had returned to pack grounds to eat, Umbreon had finally gotten his chance to say his parting words to the Jolteon.

"_Goodbye old one." _Umbreon mumbled as he situated himself next to the upturned dirt that held Scarfang. A lone tear streaked down his nose and dripped onto the ground, _"I will miss you too."_

Umbreon spent a couple of minutes in silence, just sitting there, thinking over the past couple of days. Scarfang had his doubts about Umbreon, but had been kind to him all the same. The misfit had been taken care of by him, Scarfang had been the one to stuff forest berries down his throat. When Umbreon said he'd miss the Jolteon, something inside him said that'd always be true…

"_You're still here?" _Asked Fern softly as she padded over to Umbreon, disturbing his train of thought. She smelled of food to Umbreon as she sat down a foot away from him.

"_They still have fresh kill for you." _She continued, in the same soft voice, _"If you want to go eat it, there's a nice warm spot over in the tyro's area…" _Fern got to her feet, wagged her tail at Umbreon, and stepped off for pack grounds. Umbreon followed her reluctantly, passing by a couple of already sleeping Vaporeon as he went.

Fern had been right; in the middle of the grounds was one last piece of food, which Umbreon snatched as he followed Fern to the sleeping area for the tyros. She settled down in a patch of earth that didn't normally have the shadows of trees obscuring it. Umbreon settled next to her, and found that she'd been right about this too; the spot is very warm still in the frosty autumn night.

"_Hi!" _Exclaimed a bright voice from behind Umbreon as he finished his meal and began to clean his muzzle. A small male Eevee pranced over and stood in front of Fern and Umbreon, his tail wagging.

"_Hello Noric." _Fern grumbled, getting up and inching away from both him and Umbreon. _"I should be going; my mum wants me to sleep with her."_

Umbreon watched her go sadly, she'd been kind to him one minute, and regained her old attitude again. He was confused, but didn't dare offer that Fern stay and share his space tonight. He'd always slept alone in the tyro area, no Eevee wanted to be close to him. This Eevee, young as he was, shouldn't have even bothered to speak to Umbreon.

"_Wow, you're the Umbreon! Can I touch you, huh, can I?" _Noric continued, _"I was just made a tyro tonight! Isn't that great? I'm a tyro now, whoooo!"_

"_Sure, I guess." _Umbreon responded uncomfortably, holding out his right paw to the eager Eevee. Noric sat down and held out a paw of his own, and touched it to Umbreon's.

"_You're really cool." _Noric finally said as he got up and settled where Fern had been next to Umbreon. _"Can I sleep with you tonight?"_

Umbreon's heart soared; his response was quick, _"Of course! I'd love to have company!"_

Noric purred lightly as he snuggled into Umbreon's fur. _"Good night." _

"'_Night." _Umbreon replied happily, laying his head down next to Noric's front paws.

This night was Umbreon's best; he'd finally made what could be called a friend! When Takula came calling the next morning for their morning hunting practice, another female Flareon accompanied her.

"_I see you're already met Noric." _Takula said approvingly as the young Eevee yawned and stretched. _"He's going to be coming with us today as we show you all the pack's borders." _It was then that Umbreon noticed that Fern was standing a little bit away, giving him the normal odd look-over.

"_The pack has borders? But… but… I thought that we were the only pack other then the Houndour…" _Noric said, his eyes wide.

"_Oh no, there are three other packs. Not just us." _The female Flareon stated.

"_This is Elvera, she's Noric's mentor." _Takula said to Umbreon and Fern.

"_Nice to meet you both." _Elvera said kindly, her eyes glinting as they looked upon Umbreon.

They set off then, Elvera and Takula in the lead, then Fern, Noric and Umbreon brought up the rear. Noric was very easy to talk to, and he didn't seem to care that Umbreon was strange looking at all. They headed east first, where after a while the familiar scents of the Whitefang Pack died away and a new, sweeter scent came through.

"_This is the boundary between the Whitefang Pack and the Eaglefire Pack. They're Vulpix and Ninetales only. Look, there's one of them now!" _Takula was saying as she pointed her left paw at an extremely large, cream colored, fox-like creature that had nine tails that was standing ten feet away. She glanced at the five on her border for a second before waving her middle tail.

"_That means that Eaglefire Pack doesn't mind our presence on their grounds." _Elvera mumbled to the tyros, _"It's when a Ninetales waves her outer tails when we know that there's a problem."_

"_Can we hunt on their grounds?" _Umbreon asked curiously as he gazed at the unblinking fox.

"_Yes, if you want to, of course. The ones from Eaglefire don't care if we hunt on their grounds, as we don't care if they hunt on ours. We're friendly with each other like that. You can even go and talk to that Ninetales if you want!" _Elvera answered. Umbreon personally didn't think it was a good idea, but Noric did as he bounded over to her.

Umbreon followed his friend, not wanting him to be barbequed or whatever by the fox Pokemon. As they stopped close to the Ninetales, she seemed to smile slightly at the two of them. She wasn't as tall as she seemed, but still towered over the two of them.

"_Hi!" _Noric mewed loudly. The Ninetales bent her head down and sniffed Noric's forehead before giving it a quick lick.

"_Good morning little one. How are you?" _She responded, her voice light and airy.

"_I'm great! And you?" _Noric exclaimed brightly, which caused the Ninetales to chuckle.

"_A little hungry, in pain a bit." _

"_Why are you in pain? Is something wrong?" _Umbreon put in, looking over the Ninetales with concern.

"_Ha, no, it's just nature taking her course. I'm expecting a litter soon, you see, and soon my own pack will have me locked up back there." _She let out a barking laugh, _"So I'm enjoying a bit of fresh air first. What are your names little pups?"_

"_I'm Noric, and this is Umbreon! We're training to be the best fighters in our pack!" _Noric responded brightly, causing the Ninetales to laugh again.

"_Oh my! You two are cute! If you ever have the time, maybe you could stop by my own pack grounds again? I'd love some more new company after I get locked up… ask for Flamedance, that's me." _

"_Hey! Are you two going to talk forever, or are we going to get a move-on?" _Fern called impatiently from behind them.

"_Oh well, good-bye little ones!" _Flamedance said with a final lick on both their foreheads before they charged back over to Takula, Elvera, and Fern.

"_Have fun?" _Takula asked as they got going again and encountered another scent, one that Umbreon was more familiar with, the Houndour pack's smell.

As Umbreon and Noric nodded, Elvera continued, _"These aren't very friendly grounds. Don't try to go into this land, whatever you do. You'd be torn to shreds first."_

"_Yeah, I kinda noticed that…" _Umbreon muttered under his breath.

"_Doesn't this pack have a name?" _Fern asked.

"_We don't talk to the Houndour much, so we don't really know their pack name. You see, normally a pack changes names as they change leaders. Before Blazewind became the leader, we were called the Forestpaw Pack, but very few of us remember that time. After Blazewind, who knows what we're going to be called?" _Elvera replied as they began to pad away from the nasty scent of the Houndour.

It took a while of walking southwest before they encountered another scent, a musty one. _"And the last pack in this forest, the Electrike and Manectric pack. We can hunt in their grounds, as they sometimes hunt in ours, but we're a little less then friendly. But we do know them as the Staticstrike Pack. That's all for now actually, you three are free for the rest of the day." _Takula said with a dismissing flick of her tail, in which Noric, Umbreon, and Fern padded away.

"_That was cool, wasn't it?" _Noric exclaimed after a while, _"We should go visit Flamedance in a couple of days!"_

"_Who's Flamedance?" _Fern asked stuffily as they made it back into the clearing, where a pile of fresh kill was waiting for their wary little legs.

"_The Ninetales. I bet you wish you went and talked to her now!" _Noric replied.

"_I wonder why the Staticstrike Pack is 'less then friendly' with us…" _Umbreon mumbled thoughtfully.

"_We don't approve of them. They're accepting Poochyena and Mightyena into their ranks, and that's tripled their pack size. And they're at war with the Eaglefire Pack." _Fern replied and Noric nodded in agreement.

"_What are those?" _

"_Stupid, big dogs that enjoy killing things. A newborn kit could outwit their elder!" _Noric exclaimed with mewing laughter.

"_Got that right!" _Said a passing Jolteon.

"_So why-" _Umbreon started, but was cut off by Fern.

"_Because they're stupid and like to kill things! They'll listen to the Staticstrike Pack; they'll go out and join the war against Eaglefire! It's a good thing Ninetales are tough, or they'd be slaughtered." _Fern snapped irritably as she took her Pidgey to go and eat over with her mom.

"_Let's eat over here!" _Noric said as he took his own meal and settled down next to the tyro's area. Umbreon followed him gratefully and they dug in to lunch.

"_Do you think Flamedance will remember us?" _Umbreon asked as he swallowed a much-needed bit of food.

"_Of course, Ninetales never forget! They get really old too!"_

"_How come?"_

"_Uh, because they have… nine tails! Yeah, I don't really know." _Noric sighed into his meal.

"_Hey Noric?" _Umbreon finally said.

"_Yeah? What's up?"_

"_Thanks, thanks for not judging me." _Umbreon blurted, having finally said what was on his mind.

Noric blinked at him at first, then smiled widely and nodded, _"It's no problem really." _He purred.


	5. Visiting Flamedance

Kindly Kold, I would like to say that Eevee and its evolutions do have claws, but they probably don't. I would say that Blazewind got 'claw' from Stormclaw's attitude, saying that he would rip opponents to shreds with his claws, if he had any.

ShebytheDogDemoness, thanks for your review!

Just a fanfic reader, your reviews are helping me a lot. I did go over and review my last chapter, and edited it a bit. Personally, predictions scare me when they're accurate, so I'm really glad you haven't said what you think will happen. This chapter is probably more predictable. Thank you for your comments!

ExuroFlamma, you have a good point there. But it makes a little more sense to put Umbreon in the 'not forest Pokemon' area, since in the Pokemon games they have to evolve during the night when they really love their trainers. It would be the exact same thing if an Espeon came into the picture.

**Chapter 4**

A week had passed without Umbreon really realizing it. Noric came every day with him to training, they'd hunt together, and now practice fighting with each other. Normally it was Umbreon's face that was in the dust though.

Fern seemed to have forgotten that she'd ever been nice or friendly to Umbreon; she reached an all-time low in forgetting that he even existed. It didn't surprise him much, seeing as her mother had been doing that ever since he'd first arrived.

Stormclaw had still not come back from his mission to find the Houndour that had killed Scarfang. Life went as it normally did in the Whitefang Pack, most didn't have a doubt that Stormclaw would be back any day. That was until Blazewind ordered that Takula go and find him a day ago, yesterday.

It was midmorning by the time that Noric and Umbreon came back from a hard practice in the forest. _"I wish Fern would go train with some other Eevee. She makes me sore."_ Noric mewed to Umbreon as they made a bee-line to the best spot in the tyro's area, the one always in the sun.

Umbreon purred his agreement to that statement. They both needed a good wash from falling into the dirt, as the dirt had gotten all over them. But their rumbling stomachs reminded them of the fresh pile of food in the center of the clearing, one neither of them had made a contribution to.

The autumn air was turning more and more bitterly cold by day. All forest creatures showed the effects of it, from the lengthening fur of the Eevee and their evolutions, to the mass migration of many food sources. Pickings were becoming slimmer and slimmer by day as most Pidgey and Spearow got the urge to fly south for the winter. For that reason, food was to be shared now; one Spearow had to feed the two hungry tyros.

The bird Umbreon and Noric shared looked to be one of the birds that was too old to make the flight south, and the stringiness of its meat confirmed that. _"It wasn't enough." _Umbreon moans as it was finished off.

When Noric didn't reply, Umbreon turned his head to look at his friend, seeing that he had bristled up. He was looking into the underbrush, where the bushes were rustling noisily.

Takula came streaking into pack grounds, her eyes wide as saucers. _"He's gone!" _She yowled to the startled crowd around her. _"Stormclaw's gone!"_

Like wildfire, mumbles spread through the grounds that were not silenced when Blazewind jumped to her feet and began interrogating Takula.

"_What happened?" _Was the first question as Blazewind set her fiery eyes on Takula.

"_He's… He's… gone!" _Takula sobs, _"Trainers… got him…" _

As if Umbreon was a trainer himself, most eyes darted to him. Murmurs, loud enough for Umbreon to hear, spread through the grounds, Pyrone's speech cutting through as the loudest. _"I knew it!" _She shrieked, _"I knew it all along! That creature is an abomination to us all!"_

"_No." _Takula growls, _"Don't bring Umbreon into this, he was not there. I was, and you need to understand that Umbreon didn't take part."_

"_Daughter." _Blazewind barked when Pyrone opened her mouth to retort at that, _"I will have none of this. We are a rare breed of Pokemon, and trainers know that. We have been hunted into near extinction more then once, and trainers did that. Our pack numbers have dwindled to less then ten, in the period of two moons, and trainers were responsible for that. If I see you pointing you paw at Umbreon again without sufficient proof, you will be sorry."_

Pyrone snorted before turning and pacing away. Blazewind watched her go with an emotionless face, her eyes wide with anger. _"Members of my pack! Today we have gotten word of yet another loss, one that cannot be avenged so easily!" _She boomed through the grounds. Eevee, Vaporeon, Jolteon, Flareon, and the single Umbreon focus their attention on the pack leader.

"_A new deputy must be crowned again, to help us through the colder months. That is why I have chosen-" _Blazewind's eyes came to rest on one Flareon in particular, _"Elvera to by our now deputy. Elvera, if you would?"_

Elvera scrambled through the crowd to Blazewind, where she bowed her head to the pack leader and waited. _"Members of my pack! We all suffer yet another loss of one of our own. Stormclaw had been a brave warrior and a good deputy for his short-lived time. But we must move on without him now, as he would have wished us to do. I give you the Flareon who shall not be Elvera from this day forth. Fireburst, may your term as deputy be a successful one!"_

Cheers broke out from the surrounding group. Elvera seemed to be yet another popular choice for the job of deputy. Umbreon added his cheer along with Noric, who was mewing at the top of his voice. _"I'm tyro to the deputy! I'm tyro to our deputy!"_

To cheerful cries and mews, Fireburst padded over to her tyro and Umbreon. _"There won't be any more practice today!" _She mewed brightly before turning and heading off for Fern.

"_Great, now we can relax!" _Umbreon mewed happily, purring contently from his warm spot. Noric, from the glint in his eyes, seemed to have another plan.

"_You know what we could do?" _Noric asked, and without waiting for a reply, continued, _"We could go visit Flamedance! She said she'd like to have our company."_

Umbreon froze, his eyes widening, _"You don't really think she wanted us to go into her pack grounds… do you?"_

"_Of course! Now come on, last one there's a forest berry!" _Noric exclaimed before dashing into the underbrush. Umbreon sighed to himself before following his friend, still not wanting the Eevee to be barbequed. It didn't take long for the familiar scents of the Whitefang Pack to die away and the sweet scent of Flamedance's pack to waft into Umbreon's nostrils.

"_I'm the forest berry." _Umbreon mewed before Noric had the time to, and they both purred their laughter. Neither of them noticed that a Vulpix had wondered over to them, until he waved two tails in Noric and Umbreon's faces.

"_Greetings neighbors. What brings you two to Eaglefire Pack grounds at lunchtime? Or are you here to hunt?" _The Vulpix grunted after Noric jumped a few feet back, startled by the Vulpix.

"_We want to visit Flamedance, if that's okay." _Umbreon mewed quickly.

"_Flamedance?" _The Vulpix repeated, sounding slightly downhearted, _"Oh, of course, you didn't want to hunt, you wanted to see her. She's locked up in the queen's cave now, but you two will be able to go see her."_

"_What, did you want to hunt with us or something?" _Noric asked as he heard the sad note in the Vulpix's speech, _"Because we could hunt with you after we're done-"_

"_Wonderful!" _The Vulpix blurted, totally drowning out the Eevee's last words, _"Come, she's over here!" _He darted off in a straight line, still heading east.

Umbreon and Noric followed after exchanging glances. It didn't take very long for them to find the queen's cave, following the Vulpix of course. The path was winding and narrow at some points, and Umbreon told himself that he'd never be able to find his way back without another guide.

Small, pitiful mews came from the cave, which yawned widely outward. Seven Ninetales were curled up around the cave, their tails fanned over the small baby foxes that had barely any resemblance to their mothers at the moment. Most were, from the slight glances Umbreon got before passing, nearly furless and with only one tail. They weren't seen as a threat to any of the queens but one, a wiry old Ninetales with two cubs that had started growing copper-colored fur already. She hissed at Umbreon and Noric as they passed, but didn't follow them as they made a bee-line to the back of the cave, where Flamedance was.

The Vulpix that had guided them to the cave settled down next to the wiry Ninetales, were he whispered to her for a while before getting into a play-fight with one of her cubs. Umbreon and Noric sat down on opposite sides of Flamedance and purred at the Ninetales, who was whimpering slightly.

"_Good day little ones. Thanks for joining me in this boring old cave." _Flamedance said in a dramatic tone.

"_Abomination! You shouldn't be anywhere near this forest! For shame, for shame I say!" _The old Ninetales snapped at Umbreon, pointing a wiry paw at him. Umbreon huffed, before Flamedance quickly placed a paw firmly on his head.

"_Word travels quickly from Whitefang to Eaglefire. Blazewind told use about you, Umbreon, and you'll find that not all of us find you an abomination." _Another one of the queens growled, giving the wiry Ninetales a glare, _"You should just ignore the ones who do, until you prove them all wrong."_

"_Wow." _Noric mumbled, _"I didn't know you were popular in Eaglefire Pack too Umbreon!"_

Flamedance let out a merry bark, _"Yes, you could call it that! Umbreon dear, you must not make a fuss about this," _She continued, seeing the downhearted look that Umbreon was now sporting, _"Now, little ones, how is your training going? Still in line to be the best fighters in your pack?"_

"_It's going great!" _Noric exclaimed, _"We're going to be the best for sure! And we'll both become warriors before Fern, another annoying Eevee that you wouldn't like, so we'll be able to boss her around!"_

"_Now, now Noric, you don't want to become a warrior just to boss Fern around, do you? That counts as wanting a good thing for the wrong reason, it does." _Flamedance barked, but her fiery eyes were dancing with laughter.

"_Well that's one of the perks…" _Noric stated, _"But, did you know? I'm tyro to the deputy now!"_

"_Wonderful!" _She replied, licking the Eevee over the forehead once.

"_Yeah! And I'm going to become a warrior sooner because of that, because Fireburst will want to have a fully trained tyro as soon as possible! But Umbreon's mentor will make him a warrior too, because she knows he's good! Isn't that great? Takula-"_

But Noric didn't continue after that, all of the queens and the Vulpix in the cave visually bristled, and Flamedance exclaimed, _"Speak of the devil!"_

"_OUT! Out, out, out! I will not have the abomination in this cave any longer! Saying that, that… creature's name, my word! Out I say!" _The wiry Ninetales roared as she shot to her feet and advanced on Umbreon and Noric. They both panicked for a second, crashing into each other before racing past her snapping mouth and out the cave.

"_Whoa, that was strange." _Umbreon mewed after they had put a considerable distance between them and Eaglefire Pack's queen cave. They both were panting from the run, and had barely a clue to where they were.

"_I don't know what caused them to do that… all I was talking about was Fireburst, warriors, and Takula." _Noric responded, his small nose pressed to the ground as he fought to find their scents.

Umbreon found the familiar scent of himself and Noric first, and waved his tail at his Eevee friend to follow him. _"Maybe something you said is bad to Ninetales. Like the word 'great' or something." _Umbreon mused.

"_I think you're right. Well, the next time we visit Flamedance, let's word our speech better." _Noric replied, purring to himself. They had reached the familiar scents of the Whitefang Pack again and it was a relief.

"_Hey Noric!" _Umbreon exclaimed, stopping to turn and face his friend, _"Last one to the lake is an old forest berry!" _With that, he turned and charged away, Noric mewing happily after him.


	6. The Traitor

Vulpix4Life, The Cougar, and Kindly Kold, thanks for your reviews, and sorry for the lateness of this chapter.

**Chapter 5**

"_Got ya!" _Umbreon exclaimed happily as he finally pinned Fern to the ground. She let out a pitiful mew that caught him off guard for a few seconds, in which she whipped out from under Umbreon and tackled him, causing him to fall over sideways.

Noric jumped in at this point, mewing loudly and charging at Fern. She was alerted to him quickly, and easily dodged his attack before jumping and landing on his back. The young Eevee gave a shrill cry as Fern clamped down on the scruff of his neck.

"_Very good Fern!" _Finally got her to stop as Takula purred praise at her. Fireburst had asked the Vaporeon to watch over Noric for the day, seeing as she had 'important deputy business' to attend to. Secretly, they all knew that Fireburst's new job had gotten to her head.

Fern held her head in an 'I'm better then you' pose as she stepped off of a very fluffed-up Noric and padded back over to her favorite spot in the clearing in which most tyros have their training. Umbreon gave Noric's ear a reassuring lick as Takula yowled out the order for Umbreon and Noric to try each other in a play battle.

Noric danced out of the way of the paw swipe that Umbreon aimed at him before slipping on the leaf litter and falling on his nose. Umbreon, taking advantage of this momentary weakness, tackled into Noric as fast as he could. The Eevee when sprawling onto a newcomer, the Vulpix from yesterday. _"Hey! Watch it buddy!" _The Vulpix exclaimed as both he and Noric hit a tree and caused the last leaf on it to fall onto the ground.

"_Sorry." _Both Umbreon and Noric blurt at the same moment as Fern snorted at the newcomer's scent.

"_Eaglefire," _She growled, _"You're friendly with us?"_

"_Yeah, yeah!" _The Vulpix barked in reply, leering at the Eevee, _"Even a tyro should know that by now."_

The Vulpix and Fern glared at each other for a long moment before Takula interrupted them with a bright exclamation. _"So! What brings you to the Whitefang Pack, little Vulpix?" _Vulpix suddenly froze as his eyes turned to Takula, giving her a death glare and growling at her.

"_I am not little!" _The Vulpix roared instead, causing Umbreon to shuffle nervously, _"I have news for your leader, and that Umbreon and Eevee need to hunt with me."_

"_Right…" _Takula responded, sounding unsure about the last part, _"Pack grounds are this way, you'll find our leader sitting under a big oak tree in the far left corner. Umbreon, Noric, go with him to see that he finds it. And Fern, you go hunt and find us the plumpest Spearow you can get!"_

Umbreon and Noric fell into step with the Vulpix just as Fern started to complain about the size of prey these days. Both of them were purring with laughter as the Vulpix started to talk, _"Why in the world did you have to say _her _name yesterday?" _

"_Whose name?" _Noric asked meekly.

"_That… that… Vaporeon's name. It caused the queens to be upset for hours!"_

Noric adverted his gaze away from the Vulpix's as he responded in a quiet voice, _"What's wrong with Ta- err, the Vaporeon's name?"_

"_It's bad! That's why!" _Was the only response he got, _"Well, there is good news to all of this; Flamedance has had her litter last night."_

Umbreon and Noric let out mews of jubilation before Umbreon realized something that would ruin it all. _"But… those pups won't have the fur to withstand the cold moons! They won't survive, none of your pups will…"_

"_Umbreon," _The Vulpix responded with a huff, _"You've thinking too much, and have missed an important point. Eaglefire is made of all the same fire type Pokemon, Vulpix and Ninetales. We have a very high body heat, which all of the queens give off every single day. Now that you know that, you can see that all of our pups shall be kept very warm throughout the cold moons. You're thinking of your own pack, right?"_

Umbreon nodded quietly, feeling embarrassed that that had to be explained to him. The Vulpix continued, _"Well, your pack doesn't have pups because you all aren't warm enough. Ha, is this the place?"_

Both Umbreon and Noric nodded in reply as they had reached the heart of Whitefang Pack grounds. Vulpix didn't need instructions on how to Blazewind, as she had come to him. _"What's the problem?" _She asked curtly.

"_My pack greets you with sincere friendship, leader Blazewind." _The Vulpix greeted the pack leader with a bowed head, _"We are in need of your help, for there is a big rumor flying around that the Houndour have gotten a new leader again."_

"_Ah, again." _Blazewind repeated, like it was no big deal that the Houndour had gotten yet another leader, _"And this is the extent of your important news?"_

"_No, no ma'am!" _The Vulpix stammered quickly, _"We now know the pack's new name, Blackfire Pack. This is because the rumor includes the thought that Blackfire has joined forces with Staticstrike Pack to drive us out of the forest for good."_

Blazewind was starting to take this information seriously, _"And after they are done with Eaglefire, they will want the blood of the Whitefang Pack next. I understand now."_

"_Our pack beseeches you Blazewind; will your pack join ours in the battle against Staticstrike and finish them off for good?"_

Other pack members had begun to gather around Blazewind and the Vulpix, and they let out cries, mostly supporting joining in on the battles. After the noise died down some, Blazewind boomed at the top of her voice, _"My pack will always fight for the good, to help the ones that are in need! So our answer to you is yes! We shall always fight for the side of Eaglefire!"_

Umbreon and Noric added their cheers to the noise that followed as Takula and Fern came bounding into pack grounds, many other Whitefang Pack members following them. _"A battle has started!" _Fern exclaimed tiredly, _"And the Houndour are fighting for Staticstrike!"_

"_Then we must take arms and join in!" _One of the watching Vaporeon roared, to more cheers.

"_Yes," _Blazewind responded, _"Fireburst! Get us an army of thirty able-bodied warriors! Tyros, big and small, you all shall stay here with the rest to defend our grounds if worst comes to worst."_

Fern and two other Eevee let out angry cries at that, they all were the ones that were so close to becoming warriors themselves. Another Eevee joined Noric and Umbreon, she was the smallest of the tyros, and the quietest as well. _"This is my sister." _Noric whispered to Umbreon when he saw that he was looking at the Eevee cuddled to his friend's side.

"_I've been made a tyro a couple of days after him." _She said quietly, poking a paw at Noric, _"The name's Flora."_

"_I guess I'm not needed here anymore." _Vulpix mumbled dryly as he watched Fireburst as she had already gathered the said amount of warriors and they were marching out of the pack grounds, Blazewind in the lead. He sat down on Umbreon's other side, and Umbreon noticed that the Vulpix had been right, he was very warm.

"_So why are you staying?" _Fern asked pointedly as she padded over to the group of tyros and stood in front of Umbreon, giving him a nice look at her dusty paws. The other two tyros joined them, but sat down and got comfortable to the side of the group.

"_It's not fair." _One of them was saying, a male Eevee with a very muscular build, _"We both were supposed to be warriors in the next moon!"_

"_Huh." _The other, probably his sister, responded. Her build was only slightly less muscular, _"It figures. Now we're all stuck here with the warriors that didn't quite pay attention to their mentors or just are too lazy to care about Eaglefire."_

"_We should go out and help them anyway, not just sit here like bumps on a log." _Noric added loudly. All of the tyros nodded at that, even Vulpix.

"_Then let's go!" _The Vulpix exclaimed, getting up and starting for the direction that the Whitefang Pack warriors had gone, until the muscular male Eevee jumped into his way.

"_Who are you anyway?" _He asked suspiciously. It was then that it occurred to Umbreon that he had never gotten the Vulpix's name.

"_My name is Riken, a tyro like you from Eaglefire, now if you could get out of my way-"_

Outraged cries told the tyros that the Whitefang warriors had jumped into the battle. Fern wasn't the only one who shifted anxiously, wanting to get over there.

"_Alright," _The muscular male Eevee finally said with a huff. _"Let's go then."_

He, along with his sister, Fern, and Riken bounded away. After exchanging glances, Umbreon, Noric, and Flora followed quickly. The scent of the warriors that had already left for the battle was easy to follow. It led them past the lake, into a part of the more dense forest, and finally into Eaglefire grounds. Riken came to a skidding halt, which caused all the rest to halt, as they all had been out pawed by the Vulpix. He was growling lowly, and wasn't the only one as Umbreon soon heard.

They had reached the battlefield, but none of the warriors were fighting each other. There was plenty of growling, but not at each other, they were aiming their angry emotions at one Pokemon in particular. That one Pokemon was in the arms of a man, one that was dressed in the black clothes with a red 'R' that only could belong to a member of Team Rocket. He was grinning at the catch of the century, all the fighters of the forest that had come today, all but one.

A net that was very large and sturdy held down Vaporeon, Flareon, Ninetales, Jolteon, Houndour with their black pelts, one very angry looking Houndoom, and electrified Manectric. There was little room to do more then growl at each other in a net that looked not to be able to hold them all. The single Houndoom let out a spurt of flames at the net, which had no effect at all on it. _"Give it up," _Said the single Pokemon that was being petted by the Rocket, her voice as smooth as silk. Umbreon's heart missed a beat when he heard the voice, but had the sense to keep quiet. _"You can't get out of there."_

Many other Rockets came from a truck parked a bit away, and their eyes were wider then saucers, "I'm going to get a promotion for this for sure!" One of them whooped as he stretched the rope he was holding and tied it around the net, causing louder growls and some attacks being aimed at them, but they were useless inside of the net. "A little help there, Smith?" The Rocket asked as he began to uselessly tug on the rope. The other two Rockets came over and together they pulled the net a couple of feet before stopping.

"This is harder then it looks." The Rocket holding the traitorous Pokemon said as he panted. She licked his hand once, a sign that she wanted to be stroked again.

As the Rockets began hauling the heavy net again, Umbreon and the rest of the tyros began to plan. They were free, and it would not make sense to go out and show themselves to the Rockets at this point. As they talked, Umbreon looked at the traitor once more, to see if she was really there. The Vaporeon that had first welcomed him to the Whitefang Pack, the one who took him under her wing and believed in his loyalty to the pack when she in turn had none for it. The Vaporeon that he once had said would have his respect forever, and here he was, hating her. Takula, traitor of the forest.


	7. Crazy Truck Ride

Just a fanfic reader, I really think you should join in and write fanfictions too! I'd be one of your first readers. ;) Anyways, thanks a lot for your review, I haven't considered half of the points you've mentioned. I can tell you now that when the Team Rocket base shows up, the Rockets will not have all these forest creatures just for greed.

Anyways, I just finished the new book in the Warriors series, but I'm not going to be using any ideas from it. I hope you all enjoy this new chapter!

**Chapter 6**

It did not take much longer for the Rockets to pack the net full of Pokemon into their truck. As they climbed into it, none of them keeping guard, Umbreon led the tyros to the truck. Something they didn't plan for, the Rockets had shut and locked the net inside the back of the truck, and even fire wouldn't open it back up.

"_What now?" _Fern asked grumpily. A puff of disgusting smoke blasted out of the exhaust pipe as the truck started to move, causing them all to gag on its smell.

"_We hang on for our lives!" _Umbreon responded as he jumped at the truck and landed on a jutting out edge. He bit into the slightly hard rubber it was made of, and kept all four paws safely on the edge. As the truck started to move faster, Umbreon heard a series of plops. Fern, Noric, Riken, and the muscular male Eevee had made it, and were holding on by teeth and paws. But the rest had fallen off from the breeze that was making Umbreon's gums num and pushing away so it felt like all his sharp teeth were being ripped out.

Umbreon realized that his idea was not so good when the truck picked up speed again and so did the breeze. Blood started to trickle from his mouth, and it wasn't getting any better. They couldn't let go now, as the ground was whizzing past as such a great speed that if any of them fell off, it would most definitely take his or her life.

Then they hit bumps. The first one rocked the tyro's bodies and made it even more difficult to hold on. The next few loosened Umbreon's grip so much that he thought that he was going to lose all his teeth and then fall to his death. He realized that Fern, who was clinging beside him, had already lost her back paws, which were dangling dangerously close to the rocky road. After the next bump, they both slipped back a couple more centimeters.

But like a blessing from the Pokemon gods themselves, as if they were watching and looking after the Pokemon that were daring enough to try a stunt this bad, the last bump was enough to shake the upper half portion of the truck's back end in which they could climb into, if they could get past the wind.

Out of the corner of his eye, Umbreon saw Riken hold out a paw and get it over the edge of the opening. He held it there unsteadily, while reaching out with the second upper paw and getting it next to the first. Riken then jumped with all the strength left in him, and landed inside of the truck.

Umbreon tried to do the same, but his paw was blown back, and his grip on the ledge lessened enough that he had a good view of Fern, who was loosing more and more of her grip by the second, and the ground, which was starting to level out some. But it had turned worse, as the level ground was black, and would be just as bad to fall onto.

Riken was holding onto Noric's paws with his mouth as the Eevee jumped and successfully made it in after the Vulpix. Umbreon tried yet again to get himself up, and found that Noric was holding onto his single black paw with his own mouth, but it was slippery with what he thought was blood. The muscular Eevee made it in as well with Riken's help.

As Umbreon was about to let go of the rubber edge to jump to safety, he saw that Fern was in the last millimeters of falling off. He felt horrible for putting the female Eevee in such a horrible place in the first place, and decided he would help her instead.

Using his back paws, which he was letting dangle now; Umbreon grabbed Fern's middle and felt a horrible pain in his mouth as his head had to be twisted to one side for this stunt to work. He realized he had lost two teeth, and they both were imbedded in the rubber. Another gust of wind wrenched his hold on the rubber, but he didn't care anymore. Umbreon pushed forward with his paws, giving Fern more ground and putting him in an even more awkward position.

Noric was still holding onto Umbreon's front paws, and he thought that would be enough as he let go of the rubber and used his own mouth, grabbing Fern by the scruff of her neck and pushing her the extra distance until she herself let go of the rubber and clamped onto two of Riken's tails and was pulled into the truck.

Misfortune was Umbreon's enemy today though, because as his body was buffeted by another gust of wind, Noric's hold on him slipped and he found himself tumbling back from the truck, the pavement getting bigger and bigger…

All paws flailing, Umbreon's two front paws found the metal exhaust pipe and he immediately felt a surge of pain. The exhaust pipe, from the truck being on too long, was incredibly hot and was scalding Umbreon's pads off quickly. Face wrenched in pain, not even noticing that the truck was slowing down from having his face buffeted by stinking, thick smoke, Umbreon fell off for real and tumbled on his paws onto the hard pavement.

The burns on his pads were nothing in pain compared to what he felt on impact. His back right leg was the worst; it was damaged the most from the fall. Then Umbreon's body did a couple of bounces, landing him in a bush. He was surprised to feel the foliage around his body, but all it did was sting and stick the open wounds and create a couple of new ones.

"_I'm lucky… to be alive…" _Umbreon managed to croak to himself, seeing the truck start up again, and zoom off towards something that was not in Umbreon's line of vision, and he didn't have the strength to turn his head. His body as a whole refused to stop hurting, and for a second Umbreon wished he was dead, until he thought of what that would mean. He would never have proved himself for the good deed he had done, letting Fern inside of the truck and falling in her place. He told himself that he had saved her life, and that she would mourn his death, if he didn't survive.

His chances were slim to none; Umbreon's body was slick feeling, probably from all the wounds on it. He heard a human walk past, but paid no attention to her until there was a gasp of horror.

Umbreon found himself being picked up, causing a mother load of pain everywhere in his body. A young human, probably ten or eleven, had drawn him to eye level, and her mouth was open. She turned him, causing more pain, and he realized that she had placed him inside of a wooden basket and was running with him, in the direction away from where his pack mates had been taken too. It was then that Umbreon caught a glimpse of where the truck had been headed, to a very important looking building that was made of white bricks.

His body twitching, Umbreon fainted with the thought of, _I'm going to die._

"How could you let him get in this condition?" The voice sounded far away, distant compared to the rushing world around him. Umbreon was still on the truck, he knew it, he was still hanging on for his life. The voice shouldn't have been there!

Another voice answered, causing Umbreon's ear to prick painfully, "He isn't my Pokemon, I found him." But that wasn't the reason his ear had been pricked, something had gone into it for a couple of seconds.

He was confused, his friends were going to fall off the truck, he was going to fall off the truck! Panic whirled around him; Umbreon kicked his paws up and felt a horrible pain the back right one. With a surge of reality, Umbreon snapped his eyes open to see two shapes looming above him.

"He's awake!" One of the voices exclaimed, the one belonging to the shape to Umbreon's left, of a black haired lady that was wearing all white. The girl from before jumped for joy, literally, her curly red hair bouncing everywhere.

_I can't believe it._ Umbreon thought to himself sourly, finding that the world was coming into focus and that he was being contained in what looked to be a glass box with its top off. Bandages covered half his body, most of which were around his back right leg, which was still throbbing painfully. His burned pads were also in bandages, and his mouth had been coated with a funny tasting stuff.

"You took quite a spill there." The lady in white commented, her voice dry.

Umbreon didn't respond, he wouldn't. There was no reason for him to waste words on something that wouldn't understand his language. Umbreon had come to the conclusion long ago that humans were far more stupid than Pokemon, since Pokemon can understand their language and the languages of most other Pokemon; while the humans didn't understand a word in any language but their own.

The glass box was clear, and outside the weather had turned bad. Snow was falling heavily; the whooshing noise of the wind was what had made Umbreon think he was on the truck before. But the building that he saw through the snow was what made Umbreon jump and try to right himself on unsteady paws. It was the same one that all his pack mates had been stolen into. He would have burst out of this human's place at that moment, until the two humans held him down, and laid him back into a sitting position, one that hurt the least.

Umbreon yowled his frustration as the two humans left him in the room, with nothing there except himself… _"Hey! Could you keep it down over there?" _A voice grumbled from his side. He nearly jumped in surprise as he looked down on what had spoken. A graceful purple furred body, ending with a forked tail on one end, and a red gemmed head on the other; a female Espeon returned his glance.

He was stunned, and didn't speak a word as she jumped into his glass box and purred lightly. _"Ouch. What did you try to do?" _She asked lightly, large purple eyes scanning his injuries.

"_I tried to hold onto a truck." _Umbreon responded defiantly, but ended up ruining that with coughs that caused his side to throb angrily.

"_Then you're stupid." _She responded without sympathy. The Espeon settled down in the space at Umbreon's back paws, still purring slightly. She sniffed at Umbreon's back left paw, her already wide eyes widening, _"You're from the Whitefang Pack!" _She suddenly exclaimed.

Umbreon nodded slightly, not going to try talking again. _"Yes! Finally!" _The Espeon's voice have been raised loudly, _"How's things going? Whose litter do you belong to? How's Blazewind?"_

"_You know about… the Whitefang Pack?" _Umbreon asked slowly, so he wouldn't disturb his wounds too much.

The Espeon nodded wildly, _"Of course! I used to belong to it!"_

"_Who… were you… then?"_

"_Me? Oh, my name was Myra… I was a tyro when I was captured…" _The Espeon responded, her eyes shinning at the though, _"But my trainer's a nice girl. I did evolve for her… what about you? When did you get captured? Who's your trainer?"_

"_I don't have a trainer anymore…"_

"_So you've been freed? That's nice too. Who's your mom?"_

"_Errm…"_

"_So you don't know who your mom was? That's sad… my mom was Blazewind-"_

Forgetting his injuries for a second, Umbreon yowled, _"You're Blazewind's daughter?"_

"_Yup." _Myra responded sadly, _"I miss her most of all… but there's Pyra too, she's was my sister."_

"_Pyrone." _Umbreon responded softly, _"That must… be her. She's a warrior now."_

"_Oooohh! I'm so proud now!"_

"_And she hates me too." _Umbreon responded with a sniff.

"_She'd hate anything she doesn't trust. But, you were an Eevee once, why doesn't she trust you?"_

"_I wasn't born in the… Whitefang Pack."_

Myra froze, _"I beg your pardon?"_

"_I was not… born in the Whitefang Pack."_

There was a long pause, in which Myra's eyes popped slightly. _"Ha, ha, ha. You're funny there. Not born in the Whitefang Pack… that's preposterous! Really, what's your name?"_

"_Errm… I don't have one." _Umbreon responded, coughing again and flinching.

"_You're name is Umbreon then?"_

"_Yup."_

"_That's stupid. The least someone could have done was given you a name. Warrior?"_

"_Nope."_

"_Tyro then. That's cool, I guess. I've still got my tyro name."_

"_But Myra's a nice name." _

"_Sure, sure! But at least you don't have to live with the humiliation that comes with still being a tyro through all these years!"_

"_Pyrone had a litter." _Umbreon was desperate now for a change in subject before Myra would bite his head off.

"_She did? Oh my goodness! How are the kits?" _Myra looked very interested in this.

"_Err; one of them was taken, if I remember right." _Umbreon responded, causing the Espeon's ears to droop, _"But the other one's a tyro, her name is Fern."_

"_Fern? Awww, that sounds adorable!"_

"_Believe me, she's…" _Umbreon cut himself off. He didn't know what to say about Fern, seeing as he had just saved her life, it didn't seem right to say, 'Yeah, she's a brat, but I saved her life on that there truck.' Instead he continued with, _"… She's okay. She'll be a warrior soon for sure, seeing as she's been training much longer then I have."_

"_You don't sound so sure about that last part." _Myra responded with a huff, _"She doesn't like you, does she? In the same boat as your mother?"_

"_You're quick." _Umbreon said in reply.

"_You've got to be quick with humans."_

"_Yeah, right. Humans… huh, they should be quicker for us."_

"_Don't like humans much, hmmm?"_

"_Bad experience. Just like with Pyrone, she's had a bad experience. Now that you think of it, she lost two of those whom I hope she loved; you and her son."_

"_So what are you doing all the way here, when the forest is back that way?" _Myra pointed a paw at one of the walls.

Umbreon, with a sigh, told Myra everything from Scarfang's death, to the crazy truck ride. Her eyes sparkled slightly when he got to the point of sacrificing himself so that Fern could make in safely inside the truck. When he was done, Myra mewed, _"So now you're here. In the Pokemon Center."_

Umbreon only had a faint memory of the Pokemon Centers; it always had the same looking lady with loopy pink hair and with all sorts of wounded Pokemon in it. _"So I need to get to that building." _He continued.

"_Not in this state you're not! Umbreon, you're not going anywhere until that heals!" _She poked a paw at Umbreon's bandaged leg. _"It's broken."_

"_That won't take long to heal!" _Umbreon mewed, but realized from the look Myra was giving him, and the slight shaking of her head, it was exactly the opposite.

"_Get some rest Umbreon. You're already speaking better, that's a plus. I'll come with you, once you're ready, to go get those bad humans. And maybe I'll be able to see my sister again." _With that, Myra jumped out of Umbreon's glass box and slinked away. Umbreon watched her go with a sinking feeling in his heart. He wouldn't be able to help for a long, long time.


	8. Umbreon's Mother

Well, since I couldn't quite figure out how to make a page break... If anyone knows how to make one of them show up on a fanfic, could you please tell me?

**Chapter 7**

"_Umbreon!" _The call went unanswered, for the first time since Noric had met his Umbreon friend. Umbreon had slipped on the blood from Noric's mouth. The Eevee watched with wide eyes as he friend fell off the exhaust pipe; to what would most probably be his doom. All for an Eevee. All for Fern.

Riken back stepped and grunted in effort as he pulled Fern up by two tails. _"That was very brave of him." _A male Ninetales grunted from inside the net. Noric turned to see that most of the Pokemon inside the net had all their eyes on the tyros, and most of them were high enough to have see Umbreon save Fern.

"_Yes… but…" _He began to stammer, but was stopped when he felt the full weight of Fern, being an older and stronger Eevee, bear down on him. Noric stumbled and fell over, just to feel her sharp teeth in his flank.

He squirmed under her, but by the fire burning in Fern's eyes, Noric saw that she was not going to let go that easily. He wanted to yowl, but that would have only brought attention to them all if more noise then just the normal growling when on. Finally, though, after she had made very sure that the wounds were good enough, Fern released him, just to roar, _"You… you… imbecile! How in the world could you have let him fall like that?" _There was a tone of infinite sadness in her voice, one that made Noric think that she might actually have liked Umbreon, in the strange, girlish way that he as a male would never understand.

"_He slipped!" _Noric replied softly, finding that his own eyes were welling up with new tears. The Eevee found that now he could not meet the gaze of any of the tyros, not even Riken.

"_It's true." _Came yet another voice, this one Noric had never heard before. It had come from the Houndoom, the single one of his kind, inside the net. His body had been scarred, probably by the many battles a Houndour and Houndoom pack went through all the time, and his ears had been raked back sharply. From his mum, Noric remembered her telling him that the dog with his ears back the most would be the leader.

"_He's right." _Yet another, a female Manectric, came to agree. _"You cannot really put the blame on anyone of us here for what had happened."_

"_Well, what do you know?" _Fern exploded, and was tackled by the male, muscular Eevee who had made in into the truck, the one called Terros.

"_Calm down Fern! The only thing anger will get us now is exposure! Do you really want that?" _Terros growled, in his no-nonsense tone of voice.

Fern snorted to herself as she turned on the tips of her paws, making sure to slap Noric on more time across the head, before stomping over to the net full of Pokemon when she began to whisper to the poor Houndour that was stuck there. Noric hadn't gotten up, he decided against it, and stroked his pink tongue against the wound Fern had made. It wasn't bad, not in the least bit, just a couple of scratches. And in the back of Noric's mind, as the truck began to come to its last spot and he and the other tyros positioned themselves at the back of the net, a little voice mewed to him, one that made him feel infinitely guilty. _Just a couple of scratches, compared to the hurt Umbreon must be feeling. _At least he hadn't thought what most everyone believed was true by now…

(Meanwhile...)

Umbreon's night had been full of pain. It had kept him awake; it had been his only company in the lonely hours of the night. Whatever he had done to deserve this, Umbreon did not know.

When finally the first rays of day arrived, Nurse Joy appeared, looking exactly like the human he remembered from early visits to Pokemon Centers. Her loopy pink hair had once been a source of infinite amusement to the Eevee kit that Umbreon had once been, he had once had the energy to attack her hair and pull at it. That was before his injuries.

She offered him food, which were the normal crunchy pellets he had once thought of as food. They now seemed alien to him, and tasted horrible compared to freshly caught Pidgey, even if they were getting older and stringier as the colder moons set in. He went without food then, for the pellets also hurt the one place he had thought would be safe from pain, his mouth. The two teeth he had lost yesterday had left horribly raw patches in the back of his mouth.

By midday of just staring at the ceiling, sort of wallowing in his own self-pity, Myra returned with a kit in tow. The kit had scarcely opened her eyes, by the cloudy look that she still had in them. Myra made a bee-line for Umbreon's box and jumped in, making herself comfortable before looking up at Umbreon himself. _"You don't look all too happy." _She stated matter-of-factly as she curled her forked tail around the kit.

"_No kidding." _Umbreon spluttered sarcastically, _"Your kit?"_

"_Yup, she's mine." _Myra responded with a fond glitter in her eyes as she gazed down at the puffed-up, round fur-ball. She then returned Umbreon's gaze with a level one that emitted a kind of seriousness. _"You told me that you didn't know your mother yesterday. Is there anything you'd like to tell me?" _

A pain that was nothing, not even a tiny bit close to what he was feeling now, came over Umbreon. He mother… how he always had avoided that subject when asked about it, throughout his short stay at the Whitefang Pack, even with Noric and the scant other friends he had made. Umbreon had kept the details in when Myra had asked about her, and his mouth opened to tell her that he would not like the say anything about the subject, when the beginning of the story about his trainer came out instead.

"_My mum was an Eevee…" _He began, and his heart continued where his voice left off.

Umbreon's mom was indeed an Eevee, one that had seen many moons and survived through them all, not being afraid of anything the forest she had raised him in. The forest itself had been many, many miles away from the Whitefang Pack…

His mom was, literally, the leader of her own little forest. There were no other Eevee there, not even his father. He father was said to have been from the big city, a trainer's Eevee. But Umbreon neither knew nor cared were his father came from, since his mother had assured him many times that he was a full-blooded Eevee from birth. Her name had been Kasha; her voice had been almost as rough as her tongue.

Kasha had been a wonderful mother, when he was with her before and even after his eyes opened for the first time, the little kit had always felt protected by her. But the first moon of his life was barely remembered now, even at eight moons it wasn't. Umbreon's memory came full blast at the end of his second moon, when his narration fell into detail. That was when his mind plunged into that day, the one that had happened so long ago, yet he remembered it like it had happened yesterday.

His mother had been leading him away from the den they had lived in from since the Eevee kit could remember. Kasha's worry had led him to worry and whine at her for comfort. At the tender age of three moons, he had not shaken off the want to keep his mommy happy no matter what.

"_It's alright, little one, it's alright." _He heard her whisper delicately, nuzzling his side, which even now he might have felt.

"_Mommy…" _Umbreon's little kit-self mewed, that was the first word he had ever said, mommy.

Kasha bent to touch her kit's nose when an ear-shattering sound came from behind her. A fear, one like no other, came over the kit as he dashed away and his mother stayed where she was, to hiss at the two bright eyes that had appeared.

How he had whimpered, oh how he had cried, when his good mother had stepped up the attack what was actually a car, fearlessly protecting her kit from what she found as danger. But, as he had came to know now, Eevee were no match for cars at all. As his mother's cries died down, the kit knew something was wrong, so wrong with his mom.

They had ventured out of the forest, a big mistake. For in the world they all lived in, there was no going back. Umbreon's mother, the kind Kasha, had been run over by that car, and lay dying on the road that the humans built to decrease the time it took for them to get to one place to another.

The car continued on, not even sure if that bump had just been some can in the street. The kit, that would eventually grow into Umbreon himself, bounded back to his mom and nuzzled her, not sure of what had happened. _"My kit… my beautiful kit…" _She had whispered, her voice jerky at best.

"_Mommy?" _The kit replied, nuzzling his mother anxiously, unaware of what had happened and unsure of what was going on now. His little mind didn't know anything about death and killing, until now.

"_My kit…" _Kasha replied, her voice growing more and more faint, _"Promise me you'll grow into a fine warrior… promise me you'll succeed were you're old mother left off… promise me…" _The kit didn't have any time to ask questions, for Kasha's eyes went dull, and her eyelids closed for the very last time.

He had bawled when he realized what had happened…

"_That's enough Umbreon." _Myra said, her own eyes nearly bursting with tears as she placed a paw on his chest, to get his attention away from his crying. _"You've said enough."_

Umbreon nodded through his tears, and said nothing more while Myra took up a motherly pose closer to him and purred gently. _"Did she ever name you? Kasha, I mean."_

"_No. I never knew that." _Umbreon replied sullenly. He hiccupped slightly, but managed to stop bawling and cut his tears back a bit.

He was surprised when Myra touched noses with him, _"You're fulfilling her promise though. Look, you're in the Whitefang Pack!"_

"_Yeah." _Umbreon responded, but his mind was elsewhere, _"The car came back. And in the car was my future trainer, Laura. She got to keep me while her parents buried my mum next to the road… I wasn't happy to let her go."_

"_I don't think any of us would be." _Myra responded quietly, _"You weren't very old either, still had the sense to stick with your mother."_

"_And I fought to the end against those monsters that had done that to my mum. Until they had tamed me down, I was a real wild thing."_

"_Good." _Myra responded, and began to lick Umbreon over as a mother would. Umbreon was not complaining at all…


	9. Fireburst's End

Just a fanfic reader, I must say that I'm flattered! I did flinch when I read over chapter seven, I'll have to work on that scene. Umbreon was talking while re-living his past.

Thanks to the rest of you who gave me reviews! They really do help me. Here's chapter eight, and before you read it, I must say that I put the first scene in for a reason. You'll see, in about the end.

**Chapter 8**

The Rockets were duller then they looked. As the tyros clung to the net, none of the humans noticed as they were hauled into a large white room and dropped off the net to hide behind a stray couple of cardboard boxes.

Noric's blood boiled when he saw Takula being petted by that same Rocket, as if she was a lap-cat. By the bristling seen inside of the net, by all Pokemon, they were as angry as him.

They continued into another room, where the large door shut after the last Rocket. It appeared that they were going no further until then, because other then the exit door, which had a truck in it at the moment, that was the only door.

"_What now?" _Fern asked in a huff.

"_We wait, of course. By the door. When one of the humans come open the door again, we'll all try to get in there unseen." _Riken replied, _"But of course that may take a couple of tries, since there are so many of us."_

"_Correction." _Terros butted in, _"There are so many of _them. _We are only four tyros. What can we really do anyway?"_

"_We," _Noric finally spoke. _"Can make their lives a living pain. What do you all say to that?"_

Murmurs of agreement came from them all, even Fern, who still looked pretty glum. _"For Umbreon?" _She finally asked, paw outstretched to the middle of the small circle they had made.

"_For Umbreon." _Noric murmured, placing his paw over Fern's.

"_Doesn't look like we have much choice in the matter, does it? Aw, well, I'll do it for Umbreon." _Terros added his paw to the assembly of paws.

Riken as well, but not after he had his own say in things. _"For Umbreon, may he find… peace in the Great Afterlife. And for his sacrifice, I, Riken, will avenge his death to the best of my known ability. All for Umbreon!" _And he added in a howl for effect that echoed in the nearly empty room.

The door to the room that the net had been hauled into slammed open, and a Rocket peered through, "Who's there?" He asked, sounding spooked. "Who-who's there?"

Darting from behind one box, to behind the next, the tyros made their way towards the open door with a new-found strength at their heels. They were doing it, for Umbreon. Riken was the first to get to the door and as he brushed past the Rocket, the human screeched like he'd seen a ghost. And jumped back, he wasn't holding the door open, so it slammed shut in the Eevee tyros' faces.

"_That went well." _Fern's voice was dripping with sarcasm as she sat down in mid-run and began to wash her paws, just to spit out dried blood.

"_Riken had the right idea though," _Noric said quietly, _"We should just make enough noise until one of the humans opens the door and then one of us would race in."_

"_That was a good idea, but which one of you two males can roar?" _Fern looked from Terros to Noric, then back again.

"_We can sure try." _Terros murmured confidently and brought his head back with what sounded like a very throaty mew. Noric tried as well, but no sound would come out of his mouth as he strained to get the right pitch.

Eventually, as the two tyros kept trying to roar, Fern tackled into one of the cardboard boxes that was just lying around and sent it flying into the next box with a crashing sound. _"That work?" _She asked with what looked like a smirk on her face.

Indeed, it did work, as the same Rocket opened the door and shakily looked around. Wasting no time, Noric and Terros raced into the next room, with Fern following only a heartbeat behind. The door slammed right behind them.

"_Finally," _Riken pulled them over to a deserted corner, where no Rockets were working, and it was behind an empty cage. _"I've been waiting forever for you to come." _

"_We had a bit of trouble back there." _Terros replied truthfully, matching the Vulpix's soft tone. Noric now had a chance to look around and survey this new room. It appeared that the Rockets had a thing for white, grey, and… blood red. Part of the wall in which the same door they had entered had a patch of what looked like dried blood.

The thought of what the Rockets must do right there made Noric shudder. But he and the rest of the tyros didn't find out until two days since the truck ride, when the forest creatures had been caged up in the lowered portion that lay in the middle of the room. The fire types, which were most of them, had been taken up and placed in a glass dome that was fire-proof on all sides, as they had found out.

The tyros were safe in their little corner for all that time, even if there was nothing to eat going out to them.

One of the Rockets took Fireburst out on a rope leash, one that looked to have been treated not to break from being chewed on. But maybe it could be snapped with fire, as it would be hard to get a fire-proof rope. Fireburst, hissing and spitting, was tethered to the portion of the wall that seemed bloodstained.

"_What are they doing?" _Noric murmured as Takula, of all Pokemon, came and stalked around the Flareon. The tyros abandoned their safe place to get a closer look, as most of the Rockets were watched Fireburst and Takula now.

"…_Traitor!" _They caught Fireburst spitting as she watched the Vaporeon with flames spurting angrily from her mouth.

"_What a traitor anyway? I'm only doing this to better the world." _Takula's response was cool and fluid.

The Vaporeon nodded to one of the Rockets, who pressed a button on one of the grey machines on the western wall. Fireburst was free! _"Draw your lips back, dear friend. We fight to the finish." _Takula growled.

Fireburst was all too happy to do so. The battle had begun, and Takula must have had the advantage from the start. Fireburst started out with a tackle, as did Takula, and the two of them fell away from each other on impact.

Takula got to her feet first, and slashed at Fireburst with… claws? _"Vaporeon don't have claws! That's unfair!" _Terros cried as he jumped into the battle and tackled Takula away.

"_They do now, sweetheart!" _Takula responded with a laughing mew. _"Now step aside, this isn't your fight!"_

"_What did you do to yourself?" _Fireburst asked pointedly as she stalked around Terros and swiped her long tail at Takula, which was easily dodged.

"_I," _Takula responded with an air of haughtiness, _"Am the first of a generation of stronger warriors." _She was grinning wickedly, _"The spikes of a Jolteon." _She held her blue paw up to the light, in which for the claws in her paw to shine back at them, they were golden yellow like a Jolteon's spikes.

"_When did you get the time to do this to yourself?" _Fireburst demanded as she slammed her body down on Takula's back. The Vaporeon was pinned for the while, as the Rockets could interfere at any time they wish.

"_Oh, in the last few days. They're new, my claws are." _Takula sounded proud of herself, it was sickening to Noric.

"_You disgust me. Prepare to die, Takula dear, and may you never find paradise." _As Fireburst lowered herself for the final bite, a Rocket came in and interfered with the battle, picking up Terros and kicking Fireburst off Takula.

Terros cried in anger as he was shut in another cage in the lowered portion, to share space with a cramped Manectric.

"_No, it's you who will die. And when you do, we'll find a creative way for you to join Ver-oh, excuse me-Stormclaw. Maybe I could breathe fire, you never know."_

"_NO!" _Fireburst tackled Takula for all she was worth and clamped her jaws down on the Vaporeon's flank. It was over as soon as it began, the Flareon's throat was cut by the unnatural claws and she was left to choke.

"_Oh my gosh." _Fern murmured with her eyes wide as saucers.

"_This is why we never liked Takula. She would kill just to get herself stronger." _Riken led the way back to their corner, where they were intercepted by a tall Rocket.

"_Uh oh." _Noric said, gazing up into the eyes of the human.

"_Fireburst, may you find the Afterlife and peace as well!" _The cry came from Blazewind, as she tackled into the glass globe without success. _"We will never forget her. And Takula, when I get my paws on you…" _

"_You won't dear leader, believe me." _Takula laughed as she jumped into the arms of another Rocket and was petted.

As Noric was slammed into another cage with Fern, he realized something that stung badly. _That was my mentor Takula killed! _And his anger and fury at the Vaporeon increased like it never had before.

**(Meanwhile…)**

"_I have good news, and I have bad news." _Flora reported with a lowered head, _"The Houndour pack doesn't believe us at all. We have Eaglefire's help though."_

"_And Staticstrike?" _The aged Vaporeon she was speaking to questioned.

"_Mira is still speaking to them." _Flora responded, speaking of the muscled female Eevee that was also Terros' sister.

"_This is not good, not good at all." _The Vaporeon turned to look at the assembled members of the Whitefang Pack and sighed, _"It will not be enough. I know it."_

"_But five tyros against how many humans? We'll be able to help, and help a lot."_

"_Indeed." _The Vaporeon didn't sound convinced.

"_They're coming! They're coming!" _Mira bounced back into pack grounds with a spring in her step, _"Staticstrike's taking ever able-bodied Manectric, and even their huge army of Mightyena! They're going to triple plus our numbers!"_

"_Then let's move! Come on, we've got a forest of Pokemon to save!" _The Vaporeon cried at the top of his voice and led the way out into the underbrush, where Eaglefire Pack, the rest of it, was waiting for them. Their numbers were large, and included many golden-pelts, the Ninetales that have seen over two hundred twelve-moons. They were missing Vulpix though; they were probably guarding the queen's cave.

Manectric, Mightyena, and a couple of their un-evolved tyros joined in after a while of waiting. The army of the forest was ready to help.


	10. The Sour Truth

Big thanks goes out to The Cougar! Chapter nine is finally here, and didn't I tell you that I had a reason for what happened in the last chapter? Oh well, read and find out then!

**Chapter 9**

"_Why would she do something like that?" _Noric asked when it was finally okay to talk, when they suspected it was nighttime outside. The Rockets had left, and the Pokemon they left out to guard them were all asleep.

"_Let me think… hmmm, maybe Takula hated her?" _Fern snapped, as they all knew, Takula had no reason to have hated Fireburst.

"_She's greedy." _One of the golden-pelted Ninetales interjected, _"Riken was trying to tell you this, Takula has been born greedy. It comes as no surprise to us that she killed someone who was known as a friend."  
_

"_Go on, elder." _Another Ninetales murmured, _"You should be the one to tell the tale."_

"_It happened when Takula first came to your pack." _He continued, nodding his golden-furred head slightly, _"She was only about three moons old then, am I correct?"_

It was Blazewind that nodded to that, _"Yes, and she had a trainer before then as well."_

"_Well, she never left her trainer. When Takula was released from her trainer's Pokeball, I was watching. He asked if she knew what to do, and she nodded to him. They separated, Takula walking to your camp with a limp in her step, and her trainer walking away, but putting her Pokeball in a tree first." _The golden-pelted Ninetales sighed, _"We thought you knew."_

"_We even told you." _A male Ninetales, one that was ancient by all terms of his pack, stepped forward and gave Blazewind a steely look. His ribs were showing, not a good sign. This would be Tetzleflame, the Eaglefire Pack leader. _"We showed you the Pokeball, we told you."_

"_But… she was only a kit!" _Blazewind said, yet her tone told of her defeat on the subject.

"_A rotten kit if you ask me." _Tetzleflame growled, _"But you didn't listen."_

"_My mother had every right to keep a kit that stumbled upon our pack!" _Pyrone growled defensibly.

"_Oh," _Tetzleflame turned his fiery eyes on Pyrone in a look that could scorch the fur right off her shoulders, _"And I suppose that taking in an Umbreon that was barely out of the kit stage isn't acceptable then? At least he proved he was loyal!" _Smoke billowed from the leader's nostrils, anger making him growl in fury.

"_Well…" _Pyrone turned her gaze away, defeated as well, _"I should have trusted him." _Her voice dropped to the lowest point it could go.

"_What did you say?" _Tetzleflame asked in a calm voice, _"I'm afraid I didn't hear it."_

"_I should have trusted him…" _Pyrone said, barely louder then the first time. When the old leader cocked his ears, she repeated with force, _"I should have trusted him!"_

Many other voices added onto her own, including Fern's. When the ruckus died down, the single Houndoom began to speak, _"We should get out of here, it is not safe to stay."_

"_And how do you suppose we get out?" _Blazewind asked politely.

"_We ask him." _One of the Manectric spoke up, pointing her paw at a shadow lingering up above them.

"_Hey! Come down here!" _Blazewind exclaimed, startling the shadow into darting away from her.

"_That is not how you do it." _Tetzleflame stated matter-of-factly. He opened his muzzle and let out a strange cawing croon, which seemed to have worked better. The shadow landed on top of the glass dome that the fire types were inside of, and looked down with two beady little red eyes.

The Murkrow raised one wing in greeting to the Pokemon pacing around under him. _"Hidey-ho!" _He exclaimed airily.

"_Can you help us?" _Tetzleflame asked slowly, as if expecting the crow not to understand.

"_Murky stand guard! Murky guard foxies well!" _Murky, the Murkrow, exclaimed.

"_Yes, you do stand guard well. But these, errm, foxies, want to get out." _

"_Foxies can't go! Murky must stand guard!"_

"_Look little bird!" _Pyrone exclaimed, having lost her patience with the crow, _"Either you let us out of here right now, or I shall find you when we do get out and eat you!"_

"_Murky not afraid. Murky safe as long as water foxie doesn't get mad."_

"_Takula?" _One of the Houndour murmured.

"_Why wouldn't he be safe from her if he's guarding us…" _Blazewind said thoughtfully, _"Huh, I think we've just gotten ourselves a clue."_

"_We'll protect you from that water foxie and anything else that wants to eat or attack you. What do you say? Will you help us Murky?" _Tetzleflame asked pleadingly.

"_Murky think about it. Murky get back to foxies later." _Murky then flapped away.

"_Well, that was helpful." _Pyrone snapped sarcastically.

"_You don't know how right you are, Pyrone, you don't know." _Blazewind replied thoughtfully, _"I think I know how we can get out of this mess."_

* * *

"_I have good news, and I have bad news." _Myra mewed at the end of the day. Umbreon watched her sleepily, through half-closed eyes. The nurses had made him sleep, and had done something to him in that time. 

"_What's the good news?" _Umbreon asked after he yawned.

"_This," _Myra brushed his broken leg with her forked tail, _"It's not broken badly. It will heal in less than a moon."_

His broken back right leg was newly bandaged in a lighter cast that Umbreon could actually lift. Even his pads felt better. _"That's good, I guess." _But his heart didn't go into the words. Umbreon's world was the Whitefang Pack now, and he didn't want to let it go. _"So, there's bad news?"_

"_Yes, I've gotten word from the place your pack was taken to. I have sources there, you see." _Myra responded, her happy tone melting into a sour replacement, _"The Vaporeon named Takula is a killer. Did you know Fireburst?"_

Umbreon swallowed, a lump forming in his throat. Surely she didn't mean that? _"Yes, she was my friend's mentor."_

"_Well…" _Myra broke off and nuzzled his cheek, _"I'm sorry Umbreon. Fireburst is dead. It was Takula, and she had help from her humans."_

She nuzzled the stunned Umbreon again. It took a couple of long moments for the words to sink in, become real to him. _Fireburst is gone. Fireburst… "Why?" _Umbreon finally croaked.

"_I don't know. I really don't. Yet Takula did mention something about being able to breathe fire after this. Huh, I'm puzzled, as puzzled as you."_

"_I think I know…" _Umbreon's eyes were shining by now. _"I think I do, because you do know that Takula and Fireburst were always supposed to be good friends, right?"_

"_I'm sorry Umbreon; I don't understand where you're going with that." _Myra replied quietly.

"_Well, what if Fireburst knew about what Takula was up to?" _Umbreon asked.

"_What?" _Myra shook her head, _"Don't you think Fireburst would have told my mother long ago if that was the case?"_

"_What if Fireburst couldn't though?" _Umbreon thought he was really onto something, _"That maybe she was told not to tell, or if she thought that Takula was really doing something that wasn't bad?"_

"_I can't argue with you Umbreon, I really can't. But what was Takula doing that Fireburst could have caught onto?"_

"_Maybe she was visiting these Rockets, and Fireburst followed one day?"_

"_That brings up the question of; wouldn't the Rockets capture her then?" _Myra stated.

"_Maybe Fireburst got away, and they didn't have time to. That's it! Takula knew that Fireburst knew, so she kept her busy by making sure she has plenty to do, and is away from Blazewind!"_

"_How could she do that?" _Myra sounded doubtful.

"_Takula was the Tyro Director. This means she had the power to give tyros to pack members, just like the leader could. Doesn't it make sense? The day that Scarfang died too! I think Takula killed him…"_

"_So Fireburst saw Takula killing the old Jolteon, so she gave her a tyro and watched every move she made?"_

"_Exactly! That's why Takula and Fireburst always trained us together!" _Umbreon finished happily.

"_But what about Stormclaw?" _That deflated his ego a bit. _"You said that before Fireburst became deputy, Takula went looking for him, and that Fireburst trained you all alone."_

"_That was for a while, yes, about half a day. So Fireburst could have told my mother about Takula all that time. But why didn't she?"_

"_Your guess is as good as mine. Unless Fireburst comes back down to Earth as a ghost and tells us why, we'll never really know." _Myra sighed, _"Do you think that perhaps Fireburst was in league with Takula? What did you say her name was before she was deputy again?"_

"_Elvera." _Umbreon replied, not knowing where she was going with this.

"_Elva. She was a tyro with me!"_

"_Wonderful! What about Takula though? Why haven't you told me about her? Wasn't she a tyro when you were one?" _Umbreon inquired.

"_Well… yes, Takula was a tyro with me."_

"_Didn't you notice anything weird about her and Elva?" _Umbreon continued.

"_She and Elva hung around each other a lot, that's true. Wherever Elva went, Taku went as well." _Myra responded thoughtfully, _"But surely they weren't doing anything wrong?"_

"_I told you the truth about my past." _Umbreon said slowly, leveling a glare at Myra, _"It's about time you told me about yours."_

"_Right, right… Umbreon, you're a quick little guy." _Myra sighed, _"Get comfortable. When I was just made a tyro, my mentor was a powerful Vaporeon named Makos. He trained me along with my sister, Pyrone now, together. We were never apart, really, and that was the same way Takula and Fireburst were."_

"_Once, we decided to follow the pair into the forest. That was when we realized that Elva and Taku were hiding something from the pack. It was a Pokeball; Taku was claiming it was hers." _Umbreon gasped lightly.

"_I know. So we went to my mom and told her all about the Pokeball and what Taku had been saying to Elva about it. She was claiming that her trainer had abandoned her without releasing her. So Blazewind went up to inspect the Pokeball for a while before grinning back at me and my sister and telling us that the Pokeball had been there for longer than Taku had. So it couldn't possibly be hers."_

"_Do you think Taku was telling the truth?" _Umbreon asked, astonished.

"_Now that this has been revealed about Taku, I believe so. That was indeed two days before I was captured. My trainer had been led here as well; she has told me that, by an Eevee. Coincidence? I thought so, that one of our tyros accidentally led my trainer here, but now I'm forced to think otherwise. Taku must have set us up, trying to get my trainer to capture both my sister and I for telling on her." _Myra shook her head.

"_But she only captured one, you." _Umbreon replied.

"_Yes, because Pyra ran away before I could. She was always faster than me. I thought she would choose to become a Jolteon, but you've told me she's a Flareon… I would have become one as well." _Myra's gaze was fixed somewhere else now, _"Takula is a double-crossing Seviper if you ask me. I don't know about you, Umbreon, but I believe it's time to take out the trash. Come, rest, we'll leave tomorrow."_

"_But how am I going to move in this condition?" _Umbreon asked with a hint of sadness in his voice.

"_There's something you can do to get around without using your paws much at all. I'm no expert on attacks like this, but I may be able to teach it to you…" _Myra was grinning slightly now, and to Umbreon, it seemed to be a bad sign for him. But she knew best, he guessed…


	11. They Finally Arive

**Chapter 10**

"_Murky have key!" _The Murkrow was back the next night, to a very startled crowd of Pokemon. Takula had returned with the Rockets in the daytime, and they'd all scared the wits out of the forest Pokemon. Something was not right about Takula… something that seemed to become blaringly obvious when she was around, but not as much when she left. They hadn't taken any of the Pokemon out of their cages, but some blood had been taken from some of them.

"_That's nice Murky." _One of the more impatient Houndour snarled, _"But we forest creatures don't have the paw strength to put your key in our locks. Have you thought of that?"_

The Murkrow only paused for a second, before chirping defensively, _"Murky did! Murky brought thread!" _And he indeed had thread clasped in his little talons with the key as well.

"_And what are we supposed to do with thread?" _Tetzleflame was at least trying to sound kind to the crow, yet he looked like everyone else. Anxious. Anxious and ready to burn the whole place down if he wasn't in a fire-proof glass dome that didn't give at all from fire attacks.

"_And," _Murky continued, _"Murky found foxie friends."_

There were murmurs of what that could mean. Foxie friends? _"Errm, Murky, we do not know what you are talking about." _Tetzleflame finally said.

"_Well, let us clear it up for you." _An aged Vaporeon stepped out of the shadows, his paw steps soundless. There was a great many bodies behind him, _"We have come to rescue you." _

Pyrone couldn't believe her eyes. The old geezer! _"Makos." _She breathed, naming her mentor with a twinkle in her eyes, _"You've come…"_

"_And he's not the only one." _A gruff looking Mightyena stepped up next to Makos, not making a sound either. The only ones surprised he had spoken were the ones from the Whitefang Pack. On his back were two very content looking female tyros, Flora and Mira. _"We have all come to help. From the oldest elder to the youngest apprentice."_

"_They can talk?" _Fern asked the Manectric that was dozing in the cage under her, _"And speak, correctly?"_

"_It is very amusing that your pack still believe that the Mightyena pack is stupid. Quite. Yes, little tyro, Mightyena can talk correctly." _She replied with a contemptuous flick of her paws.

"_And," _One last voice added, one that made them all freeze completely, _"You all have fallen for my trap." _Takula stepped out of the shadows as well, her lips curled into a snarl, _"You are lucky that I did not kill one of you…" _She let out a yowl, which was the signal for the Rockets to flick the lights back on.

Cornered, the free Pokemon scattered. There were many more Pokemon outside of the cages than inside of them, and no huge net around to capture them all. Panic and chaos ruled for a while, until two very familiar forms appeared in the fray…

**(Meanwhile…)**

"_Again." _Myra ordered. Umbreon focused on the floor, and found himself there a moment later, standing on his three good paws. _"Good, now again." _Again, he went back up into his little box, which he wasn't very happy to return to.

"_Alright, I think you've had enough for now…" _The Espeon gave him an approving nod, but Umbreon shook his head stubbornly, and used Faint Attack to return to the floor.

"_You said we were going there tonight." _He replied stubbornly, _"And I'm going to make sure we're going to get there tonight. I'm going to master this move, if it's the last think I do!" _Umbreon missed his mark and reappeared with his front legs in the box, but the back ones hanging limply. _"Owwww!" _He yowled.

"_Careful there, Umbreon…" _Myra murmured, standing on her hind legs and giving Umbreon something solid to rest his paws on, _"Try that again, but this time make it in the box."_

Umbreon did as he was told, and made it, a bit sore, into his box again, panting. _"There." _He said, yet did not feel as if he had gotten any better at it.

He continued to try the master the Faint Attack for the rest of the day, only stopping briefly to rest and eat. By nightfall, he was pretty good at disappearing and reappearing at will. _"We should be leaving now." _Myra whispered when she came back with a Pidgey in her mouth for them to share, _"After we are done with this, that is." _

The meat was enough to satisfy Umbreon's growling stomach. The two of them finally left the Pokemon Center, after Myra was absolutely sure that her kit would be safe and sound left with her trainer. They were making good time, much better than if they'd been walking or perhaps limping.

Their first obstacle was a road roaring with cars of all shapes and sizes. They had to rush across the road when all the cars stopped moving, and then it was still close. Following beside the only road to the white building, they kept their profiles low and muscles ready to bolt at any time.

Surprising, the scent of many other forest creatures was fresh on the grass. Many, many of them had passed by here and maybe gone inside. Umbreon saw that Myra was stiff out of the corner of his eye and he waved his tail at her to show that they should continue anyways, they may need help still.

The gaping mouth of a storage shed greeted them up ahead; it was filled with all sorts of cardboard boxes and a very familiar looking truck. As they passed it, a chill came over him. The sound of angry yowling was coming from another door, the sound of battling and fighting.

Exchanging a glance with Myra before moving on, Umbreon heard another thing that made his blood turn cold with rage. Inside of all the yowling, inside of the angry exclamations of humans as they were attacked, came laughter from a certain Vaporeon. Just that sound drove him harder, gave him the strength to face who was obviously there.

As they stepped into the room of white, grey, and red, all the fighting stopped for a moment as human and Pokemon alike stared at them. Myra had opened the door with her psychic energies, and now the stood, glaring defiantly all around. And it was Fern's voice that broke the silence finally, with an amazed yowl of, _"Umbreon!" _


	12. Kashen

This is the final chapter of the Whitefang Pack. My thanks goes out to everyone who has ever given me a review.

Thank you Kitsune for your kind words. I understand how late this chapter is, but it couldn't be helped. To everyone still reading this, I have a question for you all: Does anyone want a sequel to the Whitefang Pack?

**Chapter 12**

It was as if Fern's yowl had woken them all up. Humans with nets and dart guns were finally being put in their place by the quite livid forest Pokemon. But Umbreon was only looking at one Vaporeon, his fur standing on end. _"Takula." _He growled, advancing on her with the teleporting Faint Attack.

"_You look like you were hit by a car." _Takula observed, stalking around him, _"But I guess you were." _

Umbreon shut out the sound of her laughter. _"It is none of your business." _

Takula lunged at him and tore at his bandaged leg with her unnatural claws. Pain flew up Umbreon's leg as it was exposed and he retreated away. _"Coward!" _

"_The only coward here is standing before me." _Blazewind said this with a cool flick of her tail. The glass dome that had held the fiery-spirited Pokemon was no more. _"You would fight one that is wounded, Takula?" _She dropped into a battle crouch and growled.

The Vaporeon said nothing, just kept her claws un-sheathed. _"If it pays off, yes." _

"_You would kill one with the help of a human?" _Blazewind's voice was beginning to grow lower, into more of a hiss. _"And perhaps, kill one that trusted you? A certain Jolteon that was defenseless to stop you."_

"_Yes, old fox! Didn't I make that clear before?" _Takula lunged without giving any warning. The Flareon she was attacking moved calmly out of the way.

"_So you show your true colors to us at last Takula." _The leader of the Whitefang Pack shook her head and rammed into her opponent's side, just as a furry something pounced on Umbreon's back.

"_Pidgey feathers Umbreon!" _Fern cried, burying her muzzle in his shoulder, _"You're such a reckless-"_

"_Hey Fern, are you going to be making a scene now, or are you going to watch your grandmother make mince-meat of Takula?" _Riken barked with laughter. Umbreon, looking slightly pleased by Fern's change of heart, looked over her head at the cages, where most of them had their locks snapped in two. Psychic powers were dead useful, he decided, watching Myra bend and break the last lock on a Jolteon's cage.

"_Scene? Watch it fox boy!" _The Eevee snapped as she licked Umbreon's cheek and stepped away, for the meantime. He guessed she would have a lot more to say to him when they got out, and turned back to the battle at hand. More Rockets had fled the attacking Pokemon, and the ones that where left were seriously outnumbered. None of them were trainers, he decided, as the only Pokemon that was against the forest was Takula.

Takula cried out to the humans for help, her body pressed down to the ground by the heaver Blazewind. No help was coming in time, and another of her enemies shouldered her way forward and grinned down at the Vaporeon. _"Now you'll know what it feels like to be outnumbered, for the last time, Takula." _Pyrone said smugly as her mother nodded slightly.

The Vaporeon let out one last cry and Umbreon turned away, not wanting to see what was indeed Takula's end.

* * *

It was still night when large crowd of Pokemon was finally free of the snowy-white building. At the heart of them all were two Pokemon that stood out from them all, the Umbreon that carried himself along by using Faint Attack and the Espeon, Myra, which had been more useful than anything else. 

Tetzleflame and Blazewind, along with the single Houndoom, a tall Manectric, and the new leader of the fifth pack to walk the forest: The Blackstar Pack, walked at the back of the crowd. The Mightyena with this honor was none other than the elder, the one that all of the Pokemon from Whitefang had thought to be more stupid that a kit until this night.

A discussion of peace was at hand back there, one that was to be agreed upon sooner rather than later. One of the better things this all had shown was how useless fighting among creatures so much alike was. Most everyone had one ear cocked back to hear what was going on, including Umbreon.

"_The forest is for us all to enjoy." _Blazewind was saying, _"From Whitefang to Blackstar, it should be territory for us all."_

"_Agreed." _Tetzleflame said, casting the leader of Staticstrike a dark look, _"Even though occasional scuffles between packs shall be alright, seeing as how much Staticstrike eats in a moon."_

"_Those of your clan live longer than those of mine. You know that, old fox." _The Manectric leader, Blosten, replied, _"I do not see why we should not eat what we please."_

"_Oh please!"_

"_Fellows, don't start, please." _The Houndoom snorted and pushed his way in between Blosten and Tetzleflame, _"You'll give us all a headache."_

"_They've already given me a headache." _Blackstar's leader said conversationally.

"_You know, I wasn't done with you Umbreon." _Fern whispered into Umbreon's other ear. Startled, he jumped to the side and blinked down at her.

"_We thought you were dead." _Noric purred, flanking his left side while Fern flanked his right.

Umbreon, felling slightly like a sandwich now, purred in amusement. _"It'll take a lot more to kill me."_

"_Yeah, if the pain doesn't kill you first, right?" _Noric's reply was cheeky, but his friend nodded anyway.

Myra was walking a bit away, in deep conversation with her sister, who had thought she was long-lost. Umbreon knew for a fact that he had never heard Pyrone talk in such a happy tone.

The group stopped as one at the front doors of the Pokemon Center. Many heads turned to look at Myra, who had a trainer and her kit waiting inside for her. Umbreon followed her with a mewed apology to the Flareon whose tail he stepped on. He looked up into the eyes of Pyrone and shrank away until she licked his forehead. _"You're a good apple Umbreon." _She said and nodded, _"Go on."_

Too stunned to say anything at all, Umbreon followed Myra into the Center to be picked up by the loopy-haired Nurse Joy. He gave her hair a playful flick with one paw as she took him into a room he didn't recognize and was set down on a cold table. The nurse looked over his bandaged leg and paws for a couple of moments before taking his leg and gently unwinding the tattered and broken dressings.

The leg was wrapped again and Umbreon was set down. "You are free to go." The Nurse said with a nod to the open door. He turned away and nodded, moving towards it just as Myra and her trainer exited.

When he got out of the Center, Myra was standing at the edge of the forest. "I suppose you want to go with your family and friends." Her trainer said, placing two red and white balls on the ground. Myra mewed and nodded with her kit by her side. They gave one another one last look before the human stepped on one ball and shattered it, then moved to the next.

Myra and her kit mewed one last goodbye before they turned and left into the darkness of the trees. Only Fern had stayed behind for him, as she silently padded next to him. _"Umbreon?" _She said, her tone slightly distant.

"_Yeah Fern?" _He rolled his ears to the side, just incase.

"_The next time you decide to save my life and hurt yourself, make sure it's not from a truck, okay?" _

"_I think I've had enough of trucks to last a lifetime." _Umbreon responded truthfully.

* * *

The next morning dawned bright and snowy, nature had not stopped pelting the land with cold white flakes. At the center of the forest, five packs met together. They circled around the five leaders and the tyros that had tried a rescue mission. Umbreon and Myra were looked upon as being heroes, not freaks, as were the rest. _"As you all know, these all were the tyros that risked their skins for us all." _Blazewind started with a proud glint in her eyes as she looked across at them. 

"_Most, as you can see, have come from the Whitefang Pack. There is one from my own, though." _Tetzleflame seemed to smirk as Riken stepped forward. _"We have already decided what the reward this lot will get…"_

"_Yes, they will become warriors as soon as their training is over." _Blazewind continued, and spirits seemed to fall between the tyros assembled there.

"_But that's only because Umbreon needs to heal." _The Blackstar leader grumbled.

"_Of course most of you all know the faces here, but the new one is not as familiar. Myra, my lost little one, is the purple one. Know her and respect her, would you all?" _Blazewind's voice had a touch of humor to it.

"_We will be calling meetings like this one more often." _The Houndoom continued, _"So we should all get more comfortable with each other. The next time we meet will be to introduce the warrior versions of these to you, a joint warrior ceremony."_

The meeting continued on with Myra and Umbreon telling the assembled packs about what they found to be true of what Takula had done. From being the killer of Scarfang to the reason Myra was captured, everything was said. For once in his life, Umbreon was given respect in the eyes of those watching. And that was probably the best thing, the unsaid honor of respect.

* * *

Late spring, a group of tyros met up by the Whitefang Pack's lake. _"I'm ready, are you guys?" _Umbreon asked, stretching his newly-healed leg. It felt good to be able to walk again, and not have to move around by teleporting. 

"_You don't know how ready I am." _Terros replied, yawning. _"I already know what I'm going to become."_

"_So do I." _Added Riken, _"But I don't have much of a choice."_

The Vulpix's cheek excited mewing laughter from the others. Myra flicked her tail impatiently, _"Well, come on! I've been waiting far longer than you all for this!" _She exclaimed, leaping into the underbrush. She was followed quickly as they headed deep into the heart of Eaglefire's territory.

Umbreon's new mentor throughout the middle of winter, after his leg had healed up, and the rest of spring had been none other that Pyrone. She had even admitted once to him that his rescue of Fern had given her a soft-spot for him. He and Noric had trained long and hard under her, seeing as they had much to learn.

Fern, on the other hand, was not as lucky as to get her mother for a mentor. Instead, the old Vaporeon Makos had trained her. She walked ahead of him with grace and the walk that suggested very good balance.

The soon-to-be warriors came out into a large clearing that glittered with the colors of three small stones. Umbreon and Myra paced to the center of the clearing and watched as the rest split across the three areas.

* * *

The new Flareon raised her head high, _"By my ancestors, I have become the flame version of my kind." _Fern said, _"My new name is Freda."_

Yowls came from the crowd as Blazewind nodded proudly to her granddaughter and moved on to the Jolteon that was Terros. _"I have chosen the lightning version of my kind, and choose to remain Terros, as that is what has always suited me."_

Respectful cries came from the watching Pokemon as one by one, the newly evolved Pokemon said their new names. Myra the Espeon became Myrone, in respect for her sister. The single Ninetales remained Riken, Noric's Vaporeon sister became Floran. Mira became known as the Jolteon Nora. Noric surprised them all in his Flareon form by keeping his old name.

And when Blazewind walked up to Umbreon, she turned her head back to the watching crowd. _"Umbreon has not been given a name, and for that his warrior name may be anything." _She nodded to him and gave a slight Flareon-smile.

For a second, as Umbreon looked out at the watching crowd, he thought there was another Eevee watching whose fur glittered with ghostly light. He shook his head and blinked at the image, but it was only Myrone's little kit, peaking over the shoulder of Flamedance, who was trying to relax her three cubs into watching quietly.

"_I wish to be known as Kashen." _He said finally.

The others yowled and cheered for Kashen, some of the Ninetales raised their nine cream or golden tails in honor of him. Cubs and kits alike from all packs rolled around and played, mostly uninterested in the excitement.

It was a day none of the new warriors would forget, the day they were honored for becoming warriors. And for Kashen, that meant the world to him, as he took the first steps as a real warrior to his waiting pack.


End file.
